Incidence and clinical significance of sinusoidal dilatation in liver biopsies.

In a review of 906 consecutive liver biopsies, sinusoidal dilatation, unrelated to passive congestion of the liver, sinusoidal infiltration, or cirrhosis, was found in 26 cases (2.9%). In 21 of them the final diagnosis was a neoplastic or granulomatous disease (tuberculosis, brucellosis, Crohn's disease), but in only half of them was there evidence of neoplastic or granulomatous infiltration of the liver. In the remaining cases, sinusoidal dilatation was either the only histological abnormality or it was associated with nonspecific changes. Although the pathogenesis of sinusoidal ectasia is not known, our findings indicate a definite relationship to the presence of tumor or granulomatous disease in the liver or elsewhere in the body. It is concluded that the finding of sinusoidal dilatation as an isolated histological change in a liver biopsy specimen should prompt the search for a tumor or a disease associated with granulomas.