Nodular regenerative hyperplasia of the liver in a patient with rheumatoid vasculitis: a morphometric study suggesting a role for hepatic arteritis in the pathogenesis.

Nodular regenerative hyperplasia (NRH) of the liver commonly occurs as a complication of Felty's syndrome but the pathogenesis of the hepatic lesion is not certain. We present a patient with rheumatoid arthritis, leukopenia, glomerulonephritis, NRH and portal hypertension who had histologic evidence of widespread intrahepatic arteritis and paucity of arteries less than 40 micron diameter. We postulate that in this patient the arterial lesions caused secondary portal venous obliteration, portal hypertension, and nodular transformation.