Study on pathological characteristics of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease

Objective To investigate the incidence of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and pathological characteritics of the liver biopsies in Zhangzhou region, Fujian province in the past 10 years. Methods Pathological and clinical data were collected from 65 patients with NAFLD. Liver biopsied tissues were graded and examined with HE, Masson and reticular fiber staining. Results The incidence of fatty degeneration among all the 3000 cases liver biopsied specimens was 12.7%, and the incidence of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease was about 6.1%. The pathological characteristics of lesions in NAFLD included macrovesicular steatosis or major macrovesicular steatosis,adjacent hepatocytes exhibited from swollen to ballooning degeneration. The more serious the disease, the more hepatocytes ballooning degeneration,and typical Mallory body was not seen. Fibrosis was located mainly on hepatic perisinusoid and wall of centrilobular veins. When cirrhosis progresses hepatocytes with fatty degeneration and inflammatory cells in lobules redused. Conclusion NAFLD is a common form of chronic liver disease in recent years and histology of liver biopsy, remains the gold standard in evaluation of NAFLD.