Friday, March 25, 2011

Nutmeg liver


In heart failure, when the heart can longer pump blood forward effectively, the blood tends to stagnate and dams backwards congesting organs such as the liver - congestive hepatopathy. The sites in the liver surrounding veins containing this stagnant dammed blood appear red-brown while the other areas of normal liver look yellow. When seen with the naked eye, this speckling of red-brown against a yellow background gives the liver an appearance similar to that of a grated nutmeg – nutmeg liver.
Reference:
Bayraktar UD, Seren S, Bayraktar Y: Hepatic venous outflow obstruction: Three similar syndromes. World J Gastroenterol, 2007 7;13(13):1912-1927.Go to reference

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