[Morphology of cirrhosis of the liver in hepato-cerebral dystrophy (according to needle biopsy findings)].

The paper presents data of a luminous microscopy of the liver that were obtained by aspiration biopsy in 23 patients with hepato-cerebral dystrophy in comparison with 25 patients with cirrhosis of a hereditary etiology. In the majority of the cases (21 from 23) the method of puncture biopsy of the liver provides the diagnosis of cirrhosis in hepatocerebral dystrophy. The complex use of histochemical methods and especially staining for reticuline and cuprum significantly increases its informativeness. In 15 of 28 patients cirrhosis was of a mixed character (postnecrotic and portal), in 5 patients--postnecrotic and in a preneurologic stage it corresponded to the initial features of portal cirrhosis. The damage of the liver precedes the brain damage and is connected with an excessive accumulation of cuprum in it, the amount of which is significantly higher (559 +/- 89 mkg/g of dry weight) in the patients with hepato-cerebral dystrophy in comparison with the patients with cirrhosis of some other etiology (111.0 +/- 19.0 mkg/g of a dry weight).