DIFFERENTIAL-DIAGNOSIS OF BILE-DUCT INJURY AND DUCTOPENIA

Injury and loss of intrahepatic bile ducts are relatively common manif estations of liver disease in both adults and children, They occur in a wide variety of conditions ranging from developmental abnormalities and errors of metabolism to autoimmune disorders, infections, and iatr ogenic states. Consequently the differential diagnosis is often comple x, Moreover, although duct injury is generally easily detected in need le biopsy specimens, ductopenia is not infrequently both overlooked an d overdiagnosed. This article reviews the differential diagnosis of du ct injury and ductopenia in liver biopsy specimens and provides an alg orithmic framework for narrowing down the differential diagnosis befor e correlation with the clinical findings. Copyright (C) 1998 by W.B. S aunders Company.