Pathology of the liver

Among the topics of recent investigation in liver pathology were an examina tion of normal portal tract structures in needle liver biopsies, computer r econstructions of the intrahepatic biliary tree, identification of oval cel ls (presumed progeny of hepatic stem cells) in a variety of biliary and non biliary diseases and tumors, the features and pathogenesis of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, and further characterization of proliferating bile ductule s, A morphometric study of portal structures in normal needle liver biopsie s found that approximately one third in a given specimen may not show a por tal vein and that a bile duct may not be seen in 7%, Apoptosis is a critica l mechanism for the death of hepatocytes in viral hepatitis and also in end othelial injury in the cold perfusion-warm reperfusion sequence in liver tr ansplantation. The results of two studies examining the relationship of ste atosis to chronic hepatitis C virus infection in native and transplanted li vers suggest that fatty change is a specific virus-mediated lesion. In the field of hepatic neoplasia, liver cell dysplasia (large cell change), long thought to be a premalignant lesion, was hypothesized to represent abnormal hepatocyte polyploidization;, (C) 1999 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Inc.