Hepatic morphology in cardiac dysfunction. A clinicopathologic study of 1000 subjects at autopsy

Chronic passive congestion (CPC) and centrilobular necrosis (CLN) are well recognized pathologic changes, but their exact relationship to different forms of cardiac dysfunction is uncertain. The authors reviewed clinical data and hepatic, renal, and adrenal morphology related to cardiac dysfunction in 1000 autopsy subjects at The Johns Hopkins Hospital whose hearts had been studied after postmortem arteriography and fixation in distention. Fourteen pathologic variables, including body and organ size, and microscopic changes graded on a semiquantitative scale, and 18 clinical variables including congestive heart failure, shock, and cardiovascular disease, were analyzed statistically. Distinct patterns of cardiac dysfunction emerged for the two spectra of hepatic morphologic change. Among patients with variable CPC, but slight or absent CLN, the amount of CPC was predicted in a multivariate analysis by severity of right-sided congestive heart failure. CPC severity correlated with cardiac weight and chamber enlargement (P <0.001). Among patients with variable CLN, but slight or absent CPC, CLN was predicted by profound hypotension and by renal failure. In addition, CLN, but not CPC, was significantly correlated with renal acute tubular necrosis (P