Liver & intrahepatic bile ducts
Infectious nonviral
Fasciola hepatica
Author: Komal Arora, M.D.
Topic Completed: 1 May 2012
Minor changes: 31 July 2020
Revised: 23 January 2019, last major update May 2012
Copyright: (c) 2002-2017, PathologyOutlines.com, Inc.
PubMed Search: Fasciola hepatica[TI] liver fluke[TI] full text[sb]
Table of Contents
Definition / general | Diagrams / tables | Case reports | Clinical images | Gross description | Microscopic (histologic) description | Microscopic (histologic) images | VideosCite this page: Arora K. Fasciola hepatica. PathologyOutlines.com website. https://www.pathologyoutlines.com/topic/liverfasciolahepatica.html. Accessed August 8th, 2020.
Definition / general
- Common liver fluke or sheep liver fluke; parasitic flatworm of class Trematoda, phylum Platyhelminthes; infects livers of various mammals, including humans (Wikipedia: Fasciola hepatica [Accessed 2 November 2017])
- Occurs in Southeast Asia and other locations where population consumes watercress or other freshwater plants containing metacercariae (Gastroenterol Clin North Am 1996;25:627)
- Usually produces lesions in liver, rarely gallbladder and stomach
- Parasite penetrates hepatic capsule, migrates into bile ducts causing necrosis, scarring and eosinophilic granulomas
- Diagnosis: operculated eggs in stool, duodenal or biliary drainage; immunodiagnostic testing
Diagrams / tables
Images hosted on other servers:
Life cycle
Case reports
- 65 year old woman with right upper quadrant discomfort (J Radiol Case Rep 2010;4:13)
Clinical images
Images hosted on other servers:
Eggs
Adult worms
Gross description
- Solitary or multiple surface yellow nodules, 5 - 20 mm, resembling metastases
- Cut sections show tracks ending at subcapsular cavities filled with necrotic material
Microscopic (histologic) description
- Dilated intrahepatic bile ducts contain adult flukes, necrotic debris, eosinophils with Charcot-Leyden crystals, histiocytes, eosinophilic granulomas
- Also dystrophic calcification
- Rarely eggs
Microscopic (histologic) images
Images hosted on other servers:
65 year old woman
Various images
Videos
Dr. Schall's parasitology reviews
