Basophilic degeneration with special reference to its pathophysiological aspects

Basophilic degeneration was found in the heart, liver, and skeletal muscles in an autopsy case of a 30-year-old woman. She was delivered of a healthy mature infant by cesarean section. Soon after the delivery she became tachycardic and oliguric because of a massive hemorrhage due to ruptures of the uterus and the urinary bladder. Hemorrhagic diathesis gradually became manifest despite the reoperation, and she died 8 days after the delivery. The basophilic deposits were mostly localized in the necrotic cells, and histochemical analysis including enzyme digestion revealed that they were related to abnormal glycogen. Basophilic degeneration may be a specific type of cell injury linked to glycogen metabolism but non-specific to be induced by mild hypoxia.