Fatty macroregenerative nodule in non-steatotic liver cirrhosis. A morphologic study.

We here describe the morphologies of 9 macroregenerative nodules (MRNs) showing moderate to marked fatty change (fatty MRN) from 6 cases of non- or minimally-steatotic cirrhotic livers. In most of these cases, no obvious steatogenic factors of the liver were obtainable. These fatty MRNs showed more or less a sharp border. Seven of these fatty MRNs showed a variable degree of unusual morphological alterations suggestive of neoplasia: atypical and hyperchromatic nuclei, abnormal blood vessels, foci of clustering Mallory bodies, numerous hyaline globules, alpha-fetoprotein-positive hepatocytes, resistance to iron accumulation, infiltration into the portal tracts within MRN, and occurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma without fatty change. These observations suggest that at least some of the fatty MRNs are neoplastic or belong to a borderline lesion, and that the fatty change in the MRNs may be one of hepatocellular expressions related to human hepatocarcinogenesis.