Liver disorders Flashcards
Isolated unconjugated hyperbilirubinemia with negative workup for hemolysis
Gilbert syndrome
AST:ALT ratio in chronic viral hepatitis and NAFLD
<1
AST:ALT ratio of >2:1 is suggestive of what?
Alcoholic liver disease
AST:ALT ratio of >3:1 is highly suggestive of what?
Alcoholic liver disease
Liver enzyme located in the ER and in bile duct epithelial cells. It is elevated in cholestatic damage
GGT
Type of steatosis seen in Reye syndrome
Microvesicular
Type of steatosis seen in alcoholic fatty liver
Combined
Accumulation of green-brown plugs of pile pigment in hepatocytes and dilated canaliculi
Cholestasis causing liver injury
Swollen foamy appearance of hepatocyte cytoplasm (feathery degeneration) is caused by what?
Accumulation of bile salts in hepatocytes due to cholestasis
Retention of bilirubin, bile salts, and cholesterol associated with elevated levels of conjugated bilirubin, jaundice, and pruritus.
Cholestasis
Serum findings in cholestasis
Increased ALP and GGT
Hepatocyte swelling, cytoplasmic clearing, and clumping of intermediate filaments associated with alcoholic steatohepatitis and viral hepatitis
Ballooning degeneration
Mallory hyaline
Prominent clumping of intermediate filaments in hepatocytes
Associated with steatohepatitis
Causes of liver necrosis
Ischemic injury
Oxidative stress
Severe viral infection
Autoimmune hepatitis
Secondary vascular insults
Types of liver necrosis
Confluent –> zonal loss
Bridging
Panacinar
Causes of abnormal apoptosis of hepatocytes
Viral infection
Fatty liver disease
Drug-induced liver injury
Cell involved in scar deposition of the liver by differentiating into myofibroblasts in liver injury
Stellate cell
Stain used to identify collagen bundles in liver cirrhosis
Masson trichrome staining
Common end point of liver injury characterized by fibrous septa encircling nodules of regenerative hepatocytes
Cirrhosis
Amount of functional capacity of liver that must be lost before hepatic failure appears
80-90%
Timing of acute liver failure
Occurs within 26 wks of initial liver injury
Massive liver necrosis develops in 2-3 wks causing very rapid onset of liver failure
Fulminant liver failure
Conditions associated with acute liver failure
Encephalopathy
Coagulopathy
Other organ failure
Causes of acute liver failure
Drug/toxin
Autoimmune hepatitis
HAV, HBV, or HEV
Galactosemia
Malignancies
Most common malignancies associated with acute liver failure
Leukemia
Lymphoma
Breast ca
Colon ca
Liver is small, shrunken, bile-stained, soft, and congested. Microscopy shows broad regions of parenchymal loss in zone 3 with surrounding islands of preserved hepatocytes, and confluent necrosis.
Acute liver failure
Causes of acute liver failure without cell death
Hepatocellular dysfunction
Diffuse microvesicular steatosis
Non-hepatotropic viruses in immunosuppressed (CMV, HSV, adenovirus)
Symptoms of hepatic encephalopathy
Altered consciousness
Fluctuating rigidity and hyperreflexia
Asterixis
Exacerbates hepatic encephalopathy
Portal HTN
Early sign of coagulopathy
Easy bruisability
Caused by decreased removal of activated coagulation factors from circulation. Possible complication of acute liver failure.
DIC
Trigger of hepatorenal syndrome
Portal HTN
Conversion of the normal architecture of the liver into structurally abnormal parenchymal nodules surrounded by fibrous bands
Cirrhosis
Liver has a bumpy surface with depressed areas of scarring and bulging areas of regenerative nodules.
Cirrhosis
Signs of hyperestrogenemia in chronic liver failure (cirrhosis)
Palmar erythema
Spider angiomas
Hypogonadism and gynecomastia in males
Prehepatic causes of portal HTN
Obstructive thrombosis of portal V
Increased splenic form 2/2 splenomegaly
Common causes of chronic liver failure
Chronic HBV or HCV
NAFLD
Alcoholic liver disease
Post-hepatic causes of portal HTN
Severe R sided HF
Constrictive pericarditis
Hepatic V outflow obstruction
Accumulation of fluid in the peritoneal cavity
Ascites
Possible complication of long-standing ascites
Seepage of peritoneal fluid through trans-diaphragmatic may produce hydrothorax (typically R)
Best single test for the classification of ascites into portal HTN and non-portal HTN causes
Serum ascites albumin gradient (SAAG) = serum albumin - ascitic fluid albumin
Ascites cause indicated by an SAAG of >1.1 g/dL
Portal HTN cause
Ascites cause indicated by an SAAG of <1.1 g/dL
Non-portal HTN cause
Infection of ascitic fluid in the absence of an intra-abdominal event or surgically treatable source of infection
Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis
Common causal organisms of spontaneous bacterial peritonitis
E coli
Klebsiella
Strep pneumoniae
Treatment for spontaneous bacterial peritonitis
3rd generation cephalosporins –> cefotaxime or ceftriaxone
Hypersplenism due to sequestration of blood cells in the expanded splenic red pulp. Complication of portal HTN.
Congestive splenomegaly
Caused by intrapulmonary vascular dilation producing ventilation-perfusion mismatch leading to hypoxemia. Related to chronic liver failure
Hepatopulmonary syndrome