Hepatic morphology in obesity.

Changes in hepatic morphology were evaluated in 242 consecutive liver biopsy specimens obtained from nonalcoholic obese subjects. Steatosis occurred in 59.7% of the subjects but was moderate to severe in 28.7%. An alcoholic hepatitis-like picture was present in 8.7% and cirrhosis in 2.7%. Fibrosis of mild and moderate degrees was encountered in 26.1% and 5.8%, respectively. This study indicates that the histopathological changes that occur in the livers of obese subjects are similar to alcoholic liver injury.