Hepatic dysfunction secondary to heart failure.

The case reports of five patients who manifested severe hepatocellular injury secondary to heart failure are presented. All had evidence of severe left ventricular dysfunction and low cardiac output state. The clinical findings of right heart failure were variable and not always present. Liver histology, when obtained, revealed evidence of centrilobular necrosis (CLN). Rapid normalization of the biochemical abnormalities occurred in all patients, irrespective of clinical improvement of their cardiac status.