Electron microscopic findings of the liver of a patient with Dubin–Johnson syndrome complicated by chronic hepatitis C and iron overload

Abstract

A patient was first found to have Dubin–Johnson syndrome and chronic hepatitis at the age of 25 years. Two years later, he underwent gastrectomy because of massive bleeding from duodenal ulcer, followed by posttransfusion self-limited biochemical liver damage. Twenty-five years later, his jaundice worsened to a serum bilirubin level of 10 mg/dl. The test for circulating hepatitis C virus RNA was highly positive, and liver histology showed cirrhosis with brown pigment granules in small numbers of hepatocytes. Some pigment granules were positive for histochemical iron stain. Ultrastructural study on the liver showed (1) the presence of iron-specific X-ray-positive pigment granules, and (2) large numbers of myelin-like bodies throughout the hepatocyte cytoplasm. Histologically advanced hepatic lesions of hepatitis C virus infection and posttransfu-sion iron overload may exacerbate bilirubin transport dysfunction of the syndrome.