HISTOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT OF HEMOCHROMATOTI C AND NON-HEMOCHROMATOTIC LIVER SIDEROSIS - A STUDY OF 254 LIVER BIOPSIES

Non hemochromatotic liver siderosis often present an heterogeneous iro n distribution, but histological scoring of iron overload are validate d only in case of genetic hemochromatosis, where iron is homogeneously distributed. The aim of this work was to study the improvement of his tological scoring by introducing a coefficient of heterogeneity in cas es of heterogeneous liver sideosis. Thus, on 254 liver-biopsies with s iderosis were determined : i) the histologic total iron score (TIS) as previously described; ii) the coefficient of heterogeneity, leading t o corrected TIS (corTIS); iii) the liver iron content (LIC). Liver sid erosis was homogeneously distributed in 160 biopsies and heterogeneous ly distributed in 94. Correlation between histological scoring and LIC , in the group with heterogeneous liver siderosis, was improved by the use of the coefficient of heterogeneity. This coefficient leads to ac curately quantify all liver siderosis.