Alcoholic foamy degeneration: an unusual presentation of the alcoholic liver disease diagnosed on autopsy

Rashmi Joshi; Mayur Parkhi; Anjali Gupta; Terence Susngi; Ashwani Kumar; Deba Prasad Dhibar; Suvradeep Mitra

doi:10.4322/acr.2023.446

Alcoholic foamy degeneration: an unusual presentation of the alcoholic liver disease diagnosed on autopsy

Autops Case Rep. 2023 Oct 11:13:e2023446. doi: 10.4322/acr.2023.446. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Rashmi Joshi¹, Mayur Parkhi¹, Anjali Gupta¹, Terence Susngi², Ashwani Kumar¹, Deba Prasad Dhibar², Suvradeep Mitra¹

Affiliations

¹ Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Department of Histopathology, Chandigarh, India.
² Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Department of Internal Medicine, Chandigarh, India.

Abstract

Alcoholic foamy degeneration (AFD) is an uncommon presentation of alcoholic liver disease (ALD) with characteristic histologic findings of foamy-looking hepatocytes due to the presence of abundant microvesicles of fat within the cytoplasm predominantly in perivenular and midzonal regions without inflammation and fibrosis. It is underdiagnosed as the patients quickly recover after alcoholic abstinence and are rarely caught on biopsies. AFD has better prognosis than alcoholic hepatitis, and the injury mechanism is different, warranting a different diagnosis. We present an uncommon case of AFD incidentally diagnosed during autopsy in a chronic alcoholic and diabetic man.

Keywords: Autopsy; Liver Diseases, Alcoholic; Pancreatitis, Acute Necrotizing.

Publication types

Case Reports