A histopathologic pattern of centrilobular hepatocyte injury suggests 6-mercaptopurine-induced hepatotoxicity in patients with inflammatory bowel disease.

CONTEXT

Hepatotoxicity is an important side effect of thiopurine analog treatment for inflammatory bowel disease. A variety of histopathologic findings have been observed in patients with inflammatory bowel disease with thiopurine-induced hepatotoxicity, including nodular regenerative hyperplasia, vascular injury, and cholestasis.

OBJECTIVE

To describe the histologic features shared by 3 cases of thiopurine-induced hepatotoxicity in patients with inflammatory bowel disease.

DESIGN

We identified 3 patients with inflammatory bowel disease who developed hepatotoxicity due to 6-mercaptopurine from the educational files of the Department of Pathology at Massachusetts General Hospital (Boston). Histology slides (stained with hematoxylin-eosin, trichrome, periodic-acid Schiff with diastase digestion, and iron stains) and patients' medical records were reviewed retrospectively.

RESULTS

All 3 patients were receiving 6-mercaptopurine monotherapy at therapeutic doses, had normal thiopurine metabolite levels, and presented with elevated aminotransferase levels. Biopsies from all 3 cases exhibited a pattern of centrilobular hepatocyte injury characterized by ceroid-laden macrophages, hepatocyte anisonucleosis, and increased lipofuscin pigment, as well as centrilobular steatosis. Aminotransferase levels trended downward and either normalized or remained at borderline elevated levels after 6-mercaptopurine dose was reduced (in 1 patient) or discontinued (in 2 patients).

CONCLUSIONS

Recognition of a pattern of centrilobular injury enables pathologists to suggest thiopurine-induced liver injury as the cause of elevated aminotransferases in patients with inflammatory bowel disease.