10. Haemosiderosis of liver

Page created on September 25, 2018. Last updated on January 17, 2019 at 16:54

Staining: Prussian blue, HE

Organ: Liver

Description:

With the Prussian blue stain, we can see normal liver tissue with small, medium and large accumulation of blue pigment. Notably, the pigment can be seen inside the epithelial cells of the bile duct in the portal triads.

With the HE stain, the description is similar, however the pigment is brownish instead of bluish.

Diagnosis: Hemosiderosis in the liver

Causes:

• See macropreparation 11

Theory:

The pigment can not only be found in the Kupffer cells (liver macrophages), but also in hepatocytes and even in the biliary epithelial cells in the bile ducts. Cases where hemosiderosis can be seen in these biliary cells are more severe than when the biliary cells don’t have the pigment.

For more theory, see macropreparation 11.