Hepatic Steatosis, Fibrosis, and Cancer in Elderly Cadavers

Abstract

The incidence of hepatic steatosis, fibrosis, and cancer in the elderly population remains unknown. Human cadavers used in anatomy teaching, which come largely from older adults, may provide liver tissue for examining their pathologies. Livers were obtained from 68 cadavers (mean age 82.1 ± 10.4 years) with diverse causes of death in the Anatomy course at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Paraffin sections were stained with hematoxylin and eosin and Sirius red and evaluated for steatosis, fibrosis, cancer, and lipofuscin. Tissue preservation was graded as good in 38.2% of the embalmed livers, fair in 36.7%, and poor in 25.0%. Steatosis was observed in 35.3% of the livers, central vein fibrosis in 49.2%, perisinusoidal fibrosis in 63.2%, portal tract (PT) fibrosis in 47.0%, septa formation in 44.1%, bridging fibrosis in 30.8%, and cirrhosis in 4.4%. One hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and six metastatic tumors were detected. Lobular inflammation occurred in 20.8% of the livers and PT inflammation in 38.8%. Nine livers showed minimal change. Lipofuscin was detected in 60.2% of the livers. Steatosis, fibrosis, and cancer are highly prevalent in elderly cadavers with diverse causes of death. The prevalence of steatosis and fibrosis is consistent with the data in patients with specific liver diseases. Steatosis alongside fibrosis can accelerate the progression of fibrosis to cirrhosis and ultimately HCC. Though not indicated as the primary cause of death, the liver injury may have compromised hepatic functions and enhanced disease susceptibility, thereby exacerbating the health conditions in this elderly population. Anat Rec, 2012. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Morphometric alterations, steatosis, fibrosis and active caspase‐3 detection in carbamate bendiocarb treated rabbit liver

“…The diameter of central veins ranged from 58.3 to 160.5 μm, and the mean diameter was lower at 10 day (113.90 ± 25.17 μm) compared with control (118.23 ± 22.36 μm; Table ). Thus, they are representative central veins as a general term (Danko et al, ), also called centrolobular veins or terminal hepatic venules (Mak et al, ).…”

Pathology of the liver sinusoids

“…These alterations may contribute to susceptibility of the elderly to adverse drug reactions and other disease processes of older age, e.g. atherosclerosis, due to impaired metabolism, detoxification of drugs and nutrient imbalance …”

“…atherosclerosis, due to impaired metabolism, detoxification of drugs and nutrient imbalance. 18,19 Peliosis hepatis, an uncommon condition, may be the result of a variety of pathogenetic processes. The most common associations are with androgen, oestrogen and steroid therapy 20,21 and, in HIV-infected subjects, Bartonella spp.…”

Therapeutic Targeting of Redox Signaling in Myofibroblast Differentiation and Age-Related Fibrotic Disease

“…It is perhaps therefore not surprising that the incidence of many fibrosis-associated diseases increases sharply with advancing age, for example, cardiovascular disease, fibrosis of the liver, lung and kidney, and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), a classic age-related fibrotic-like disease characterized by fibroblast to myofibroblast differentiation and ECM deposition [24, 30–35]. Fibrosis is also observed in the stromal response to many tumors, including liver and prostate cancer, both of whose incidence is strongly linked with aging and chronic inflammation [36–39].…”