[Morphological study on 40 cases of alcoholic liver disease]

Morphological changes in liver biopsies from 40 alcoholic patients were studied, 20 of which being ordinary alcoholics (40-80g ethanol/day) and the other 20 being heavy drinkers (above 80g ethanol/day for over 20 years). All being male who have neither type B nor type C hepatitis. The basic morphological changes observed being: 1. Liver cell degeneration including fatty degeneration & focal ballooning, decrease in liver cell size, occasional giant mitochondrion and Mallory's body formation. 2. Focal necrosis with neutrophil infiltration. 3. Pericellular fibrosis of liver cells, hepatic fibrosis and early cirrhosis. Alcoholic liver disease can be divided into 5 types: I. alcoholic fatty liver (AFL), II. alcoholic hepatitis (AH), III. alcoholic hepatic fibrosis (AHF), IV. alcoholic liver cirrhosis (ALC), V. slight alcoholic liver disease (SALD). The degree of liver damage (liver cell necrosis and hepatic fibrosis) is closely related to the amount of daily ethanol intake. The progression of liver damage observed in our study is much milder than reports from Europe, the U.S. and Japan.