Acute hepatitis E: a cause of lymphocytic destructive cholangitis.

Lymphocytic destructive cholangitis is a histological pattern associating bile duct intraepithelial lymphocytic infiltration and bile duct epithelial damage. Lymphocytic destructive cholangitis is an important diagnostic feature of primary biliary cirrhosis, but it can also be seen in primary sclerosing cholangitis, autoimmune hepatitis, the so-called overlap syndrome, acute or chronic viral hepatitis C, drug-induced hepatitis, and acute rejection or graft-versus-host disease in liver or bone marrow transplantation. In the present paper we report a case of acute hepatitis with lymphocytic destructive cholangitis on liver biopsy. Clinical and biological examinations showed that the patient had hepatitis E with no other cause of liver disease. Therefore, hepatitis E should be considered as a diagnostic possibility when liver biopsy shows acute hepatitis and lymphocytic destructive cholangitis. The mechanism of bile duct damage in hepatitis E remains unknown.