LIVER BIOPSY FINDINGS OF PATIENTS SURVIVING FULMINANT HEPATITIS

Abstract

Within 8 to 15 weeks from onset of hepatic coma, liver biopsies were obtained in 6 patients surviving fulminant hepatitis. Two patients showed typical subacute hepatic necrosis, but the other patients had mild hepatic damage without remarkable necrosis which a considerable proportion of the hepatic parenchyma was morphologically preserved. Although the pathologic features of the disease have been recognized to be basically characterized by acute or subacute hepatic necrosis, there is fulminant hepatitis in part which the histological alterations do not necessary correlate well with the severity of clinical illness. This observation may suggest the results of functional failure of anatomically intact hepatic parenchyma as opposed to morphological destruction of the majority of hepatocytes. Moreover, it appears that patients surviving fulminant hepatitis may rarely develop chronic liver disease.