Morphological Abnormalities of Red Blood Cells in Liver Diseases

Abstract

We studied the mean corpuscular volume (MCV), the mean corpuscular diameter (MCD), the morphological abnormalities of red blood cells (RBC), and their correlations to the parameters of liver function in 240 patients of liver disorders, consisting of 45 with acute hepatitis (AH), 72 with chronic hepatitis (CH), 64 with liver cirrhosis (LC), and 59 with LC with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Macrocytosis was observed in 40% of LC patients and less than 10% of AH or CH patients. Thin macrocytosis was found in 57% of LC, 37% of HCC, 29% of CH, and 4% of AH patients. The mean value of MCD in LC patients was significantly higher than that of CH patients. Morphological abnormalities, especially poikilocytosis and polychromasia, were frequently observed in LC and HCC patients. MCD had negative correlation with prothrombin time (PT), and positive with indocyanin green 15 minute retention and GOT in LC patients (p<0.01). The rate of morphological abnormalities of RBC in LC patients correlated with PT and total cholesterol, choline esterase, LDH and GPT in serum.