Hepatic infarction. A clinicopathologic study of seven cases

Five of the seven cases of hepatic infarction that compose this study were encountered in a series of 442 consecutive autopsies, giving an incidence of one in 88 autopsies. The clinical and laboratory features were suggestive of hepatocellular dysfunction, although in only three cases was the diagnosis considered prior to death. Morphologically, in four of the seven patients, the infarcts were regarded as massive or of submassive proportions and were directly responsible for the patients' death. The majority of infarcts were of recent origin, with the estimated ages ranging from 18 to 72 hours. One was of about two weeks' duration and was the only example in this series associated with cirrhosis.