Lecture 17 - Liver Pathology 2 Flashcards
What are some examples of liver disease associated with metabolic syndrome?
- Non-alcoholic fatty liver disorder (NAFLD)
- Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH)
These look like Steatohepatitis and Steatosis under the microscope, but the sufferer is a non-drinker
Which people are most commonly affected by non-alcoholic liver disease?
Which other disorders are associated with it?
Middle aged women
Associations:
• Obesity
• Hypertension
• Diabetes
What is the underlying cause of non-alcoholic, metabolic liver disease?
Central obesity: aka big belly
Men: more than 94 cm
Women: more than 80 cm
In Asians it is even less, because they are often shorter
\+ two of the following features: • Raised serum Triglyceride (TG) level • Reduced serum HDL cholesterol • Raised BP • Raised fasting blood glucose (FBG)
Describe the metabolic and inflammatory cascade of Central Obesity
Dyslipidaemia
Systemic inflammation
Endothelial dysfunction → hypertension
Insulin Resistance
NASH / NAFLD
Polycystic ovary syndrome; infertility
Atherosclerosis
Obstructive sleep apnoea
Disordered fibrinolysis
Hypertension
Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus
What are the different categories of metabolic liver disease?
- Acquired: NAFLD, NASH
* Genetic: hereditary storage diseases
What are liver ‘storage diseases’?
Give some examples
Genetic metabolic liver diseases
- Genetic haemochromatosis
- Wilson’s disease
- α1-antitrypsindeficiency
- Tyrosinaemia
- Glycogen storage disease
What is genetic Haemochromatosis?
Hereditary iron overload
What is Wilson’s disease?
Copper overload
What is alpha-1-antitrypsin?
What is it needed for?
A protease inhibitor
Needed to inhibit all the proteases released by neutrophils in inflammation
→ If this isn’t controlled more inflammation and fibrosis
Compare most common cause of hereditary storage disease cirrhosis in:
• Adults
• Children
Adults: Haemochromatosis
• Because adults are using less iron
• More is accumulating
Children: α1-antitrypsin deficiency
What are the categories of hepatitic liver injury?
Infectious
• Viral hepatitis
Immunological
• Autoimmune hepatitis
What is the definition of the ‘Hepatitic histological pattern’?
What are the causes of Hepatitic histological pattern?
Describe the morphology
“Diffuse inflammation of the liver accompanied by features hepatocellular injury and regeneration”
Causes:
• Viral hepatitis
• Idiosyncratic reactions to therapeutic drugs
Morphology:
1. Parenchymal degeneration
• aka damage to liver cells:
• Ballooning hepatocytes
- Cell death
• Apoptosis
• Necrosis - Inflammatory reaction
• Mononuclear inflammatory cell infiltration
• Hyperplasia of Kupffer cells
• Macrophages - Mesenchymal reaction
• This is HSCs - Regeneration of hepatocytes
• Hypertrophy
• Mitosis
Describe the changes to the following in acute viral hepatitis:
• Liver lobules
• Hepatocytes
Liver lobules:
• Complete disarray; loss of order
• Inflammatory infiltrate: pigmented macrophages
• Sinusoids are hard to see
Hepatocytes: • Apoptosis • Necrosis • Ballooning degeneration • Regeneration
What are the features of resolving hepatitis?
How long does the acute stage last?
How long until it is completely resolved?
In most forms of viral hepatitis, it starts to resolve after 6 weeks
There will be residual cells for about 3 months
Inflammation remains in the portal tracts
Sinusoids are open again
Still some pigmented macrophages in zone 3
Describe the evolution of Acute Viral Hepatitis
- Early stage
- Fully developed stage
• Parenchymal damage
• Necrosis - Later stage
• Still have Pigmented macrophages - Residual changes
What are pigmented macrophages and when are they seen?
What does this indicate
Seen in viral hepatitis
Macrophages filled with ceroid & iron
Indicates that they are filled with lipids from the plasma membranes of the cells that have just undergone necrosis
Which types of necrosis are seen in Hepatitic pattern in viral hepatitis?
Describe them
Spotty (focal) necrosis
• 2-10 hepatocytes necrosis
• collections of lymphocytes and pigmented macrophages
Confluent necrosis
• en masse death of tracts hepatocytes
Piecemeal necrosis
• Hepatocyte death at interface of connective tissue & liver parenchyma
What are the three grades of increasing severity of confluent necrosis seen in viral hepatitis?
Zonal:
• just in one of the zones
BHN: Bridging hepatic necrosis
• Bridging between two vascular structures (i.e. portal tracts and central veins)
MLN: Multilobular hepatic necrosis
• Lots of neighbouring lobules disappear at once
What is the parenchyma of the liver?
The hepatocytes
What is pan lobular necrosis?
Many or all lobules undergoing necrosis
Describe the order of events that can occur after BHN
- BHN
- Passive septum
- Active septum
- Bridging fibrosis
and if inflammation continues:
- Cirrhosis
Which malignancies are seen in the liver?
Hepatocellular carcinoma
Compare progression to cirrhosis in NAFLD & NASH with alcoholic FLD and SH
Alcoholic fatty liver disease and hepatosteatosis more likely to develop into cirrhosis:
• Only 3-4% get cirrhosis
What percent of sufferers of NAFLD progress to HCC?
less than 0.5% go on to get HCC
What is the end stage of hereditary storage diseases?
Cirrhosis
Which inflammatory cells infiltrate in non-alcoholic hepatitis?
Mononuclear cells
Hardly ever neutrophils (as is seen in alcoholic hepatitis)
Where is inflammation seen in hepatitis?
- Portal tracts
* Lobules