A Late Presentation of a Fatal Disease: Juvenile Hemochromatosis
Figure 1
Liver biopsy from a young woman with juvenile hemochromatosis due to mutations in HFE2. (a) Iron appears as a brownish pigment in hepatocytes in this section stained with hematoxylin and eosin (10x magnification). (b) At higher power (40x magnification), the granular brown iron pigment is readily appreciated within hepatocytes. A small area of necrosis is indicated by the asterisk. (c) Perl’s Prussian Blue stain confirms 4+ iron in hepatocytes as well as heavy iron deposition in the epithelium of a bile duct (arrow; 10x magnification). (d) Trichrome stain highlights the nodular contour of the hepatic parenchyma outlined by thick bands of connective tissue (4x magnification).
