Liver & intrahepatic bile ducts
Acute and chronic hepatitis
Hepatitis (acute and chronic)-general
Authors: Rifat Mannan, M.D., Songyang Yuan, M.D., Ph.D.
Topic Completed: 1 July 2015
Minor changes: 15 December 2020
Copyright: 2002-2021, PathologyOutlines.com, Inc.
PubMed Search: General acute and chronic hepatitis[TI] liver
Table of Contents
Definition / general | Etiology | Clinical features | Microscopic (histologic) description | Microscopic (histologic) images | Additional referencesCite this page: Mannan A.A.S.R. Hepatitis (acute and chronic)-general. PathologyOutlines.com website. https://www.pathologyoutlines.com/topic/liverhepatitisgeneral.html. Accessed August 2nd, 2021.
Definition / general
- Inflammation of liver resulting in liver injury
- Most common pattern of hepatic injury
- Can be either acute or chronic
Etiology
- Viral hepatitis
- Other common causes include:
- Alcoholic hepatitis
- Toxic and drug induced hepatitis
- Autoimmune hepatitis
- Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD)
- Ischemic hepatitis
- Giant cell hepatitis (in infants and children)
- Metabolic disorders
Clinical features
- Acute hepatitis
- Initial symptoms are mostly nonspecific, such as nausea, body ache, fever, nausea, vomiting, etc.
- Profound loss of appetite, choluria (dark urine), jaundice and abdominal discomfort / pain are relatively specific symptoms of hepatitis
- Small proportion of patients present with acute liver failure
- Chronic hepatitis
- May be asymptomatic or with nonspecific constitutional symptoms
- Often detected by laboratory evaluation
- Extensive damage may lead to features of cirrhosis and portal hypertension
Microscopic (histologic) description
- Acute hepatitis - characterized by "lobular disarray," which includes:
- Ballooning degeneration
- Spotty necrosis
- Predominantly sinusoidal and lobular mononuclear cell infiltrate
- Kupffer cell hyperplasia
- Apoptotic bodies
- Canalicular cholestasis
- Chronic hepatitis - characterized by varying degrees of:
- Portal inflammation
- Interface hepatitis
- Parenchymal inflammation and necrosis
- Fibrosis / cirrhosis
Microscopic (histologic) images
Images hosted on other servers:
Chronic hepatitis
Additional references
