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Published on: October 21, 2017
Mallory-Denk Bodies in chronic hepatitis
Metin Basaranoglu1, Nesrin Turhan, Abdullah Sonsuz
1Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Consulting, Endoscopy, Ankara Yüksek Ihtisas Hospital, Ankara 06420, Turkey. metin_basaranoglu@yahoo.com
Abstract:
Mallory-Denk Bodies (MDB) are important as investigators, suggesting MDB as an indicator of the histologic severity of chronic hepatitis, causes of which include hepatitis C, primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC), and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Matteoni et al scored MDB in patients with NAFLD as none, rare and many, and reported that MDB plays a prominent role in this classification scheme in an earlier classification system. In this study, we evaluated 258 patients with chronic hepatitis due to metabolic, autoimmune and viral etiologies. Liver biopsy samples were evaluated with hematoxylin and eosin, periodic acid-Schiff-diastase, Gordon and Sweet's reticulin, Masson's trichrome, and iron stains. Both staging and grading were performed. Additionally, MDB were evaluated and discussed for each disease. We examined patients with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH; 50 patients), alcoholic hepatitis (10 patients), PBC (50 patients), Wilson disease (WD; 20 patients), hepatitis B (50 patients), hepatitis C (50 patients) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC; 30 patients). Frequency of MDB was as follows; NASH: 10 patients with mild in 60% and moderate in 40% and observed in every stage of the disease and frequently seen in zone 3. PBC: 11 patients with mild in 10%, moderate in 70%, and cirrhosis in 20%, and frequently seen in zone 1. WD: 16 patients with moderate and severe in 60% and cirrhosis in 40% and frequently seen in zone 1. Hep B: 3 patients with mild in 66% and severe in 34%. Hep C: 7 patients with mild in 40% and moderate in 60% and observed in every stage. HCC: 3 patients with hep B in 2 patients. We found that there is no relationship between MDB and any form of chronic hepatitis regarding histologic severity such as alcoholic steatohepatitis and NAFLD and variable zone distribution by etiology.
Insights
Mallory-Denk Bodies (MDB) do not correlate with the histologic severity of chronic hepatitis across various causes. Their distribution varies by liver disease etiology, challenging their role as a universal severity indicator.
Area of Science:
- Hepatology
- Pathology
- Gastroenterology
Background:
- Mallory-Denk Bodies (MDB) are implicated as indicators of chronic hepatitis severity.
- Previous studies suggested MDB scoring is relevant for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) classification.
- Chronic hepatitis encompasses viral, autoimmune, and metabolic etiologies.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between MDB and histologic severity in diverse chronic hepatitis types.
- To analyze MDB frequency and zone distribution across different liver disease etiologies.
- To evaluate MDB's utility as a severity marker in chronic liver diseases.
Main Methods:
- Histologic evaluation of 258 chronic hepatitis patient liver biopsies.
- Utilized H&E, PAS-diastase, reticulin, trichrome, and iron stains for comprehensive analysis.
- Assessed MDB presence, grade, and zone distribution in NASH, alcoholic hepatitis, PBC, WD, Hep B, Hep C, and HCC.
Main Results:
- No significant relationship was found between MDB presence and histologic severity in chronic hepatitis.
- MDB frequency varied: NASH (30%), PBC (22%), WD (32%), Hep B (6%), Hep C (14%), HCC (6%).
- Zone distribution of MDB differed by etiology: predominantly Zone 3 in NASH, Zone 1 in PBC and WD.
Conclusions:
- MDB presence does not reliably indicate histologic severity in chronic hepatitis.
- The variable zone distribution of MDB suggests etiology-specific patterns rather than a universal severity marker.
- Further research is needed to clarify the precise role and significance of MDB in liver pathology.
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