Ultrastructural alterations in livers with metastasis.

The electron microscopic examination of 13 biopsy specimens of livers that contained metastatic carcinoma revealed degenerative alterations of the mitochondria, cystic dilatation of the endoplasmic reticulum, increased amounts of osmiophilic material, some in various stages of autophagocytosis, and lipid vacuoles within the hepatocytes. In ten of 13 cases, the hepatocytes demonstrated mitochondrial paracrystalline inclusions. The observation of the latter structures in edematous hepatocytes containing phospholipid-rich osmiophilic deposits tends to confirm the experimental hypothesis that paracrystalline inclusions are caused by the precipitation of unmasked phospholipids. The spectrum of ultrastructural findings suggests hypoxia and impaired lipid metabolism of the hepatic tissue as a result of congestion and bile stasis caused by the tumor nodules.