BACKGROUND: Liver cirrhosis is a common chronic disease that frequently runs with complications such as hepatocellular insufficiency, portal hypertension and hepatocellular carcinoma. OBJECTIVES: To assess clinical and morphologic aspects of cirrhosis, establishing its associations with major histologic patterns and complications. MATERIAL AND METHOD: 35 cirrhotic livers obtained from SVOC-SP necropsies were studied, resulting in 2 distinct lesion patterns: cirrhosis associated to chronic hepatitis, and that related to steatohepatitis. The data obtained were mutually and individually analyzed according to each group. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: High incidence of cirrhosis in necropsies (7,1%) and high prevalence macronodules (62,8%) and of HCC (37,1%) among cirrhotic livers were observed, as when compared to previous studies. The histological analysis demonstrated a higher incidence of biliary aggression, hepatocyte siderosis, and hepatocyte neoducts in post-hepatitis cirrhosis. CONCLUSIONS: This systematic approach to necroscopic specimens from the Necroscopy Public System yielded the detection of high frequency of cirrhosis, especially related to viral chronic hepatitis, with a potential impact in Public Health. High frequency of hepatocellular carcinoma, besides offering a model for future studies on hepatocarcinogenesis, clearly shows HCC as a major complication of cirrhosis.
Liver cirrhosis; Chronic hepatitis; Fatty liver; Autopsy; Gross analysis; Histopathology
