TY - JOUR
T1 - Hepatic morphopathologic findings of lead poisoning in a drug addict
T2 - A case report
AU - Verheij, Joanne
AU - Voortman, Jens
AU - Van Nieuwkerk, Carin M.J.
AU - Jarbandhan, S. Vijay A.
AU - Mulder, Chris J.J.
AU - Bloemena, Elisabeth
PY - 2009
Y1 - 2009
N2 - We describe the case of a 40-year old Iranian man who was admitted to our hospital with severe abdominal pain, abnormal liver function tests and normocytic anemia. Suffering from multiple sclerosis, he was a regular user of opium for pain relief. Basophilic stippling of erythrocytes pointed towards the diagnosis of lead intoxication, the most likely source being contaminated Iranian opium. Serum lead and zinc protoporphyrin levels were strongly elevated. To assess the hepatotoxic effects of lead poisoning a liver biopsy was performed. Pathomorphologic fi ndings of hepatotoxicity, rarely reported in humans, included active hepatitis together with extensive microvesicular and macrovesicular steatosis, hemosiderosis and cholestasis, and a lymphocytic cholangitis. Whilst treated with chelating therapy, liver enzymes returned to normal, suggesting reversibility of the histological findings.
AB - We describe the case of a 40-year old Iranian man who was admitted to our hospital with severe abdominal pain, abnormal liver function tests and normocytic anemia. Suffering from multiple sclerosis, he was a regular user of opium for pain relief. Basophilic stippling of erythrocytes pointed towards the diagnosis of lead intoxication, the most likely source being contaminated Iranian opium. Serum lead and zinc protoporphyrin levels were strongly elevated. To assess the hepatotoxic effects of lead poisoning a liver biopsy was performed. Pathomorphologic fi ndings of hepatotoxicity, rarely reported in humans, included active hepatitis together with extensive microvesicular and macrovesicular steatosis, hemosiderosis and cholestasis, and a lymphocytic cholangitis. Whilst treated with chelating therapy, liver enzymes returned to normal, suggesting reversibility of the histological findings.
KW - Hepatotoxicity
KW - Iran
KW - Liver biopsy
KW - Opium
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=70149111333&partnerID=8YFLogxK
M3 - Article
C2 - 19565057
SN - 1841-8724
VL - 18
SP - 225
EP - 227
JO - Journal of gastrointestinal and liver diseases
JF - Journal of gastrointestinal and liver diseases
IS - 2
ER -