Morphological findings at autopsy of people who died from alcoholic liver steatosis and liver cirrhosis

Abstract

Introduction According to Lithuanian Institute of Hygiene, in 2020 liver diseases (K70-K76) were the third leading cause of death among working-age adults. WHO warns that health systems may facea significant increase in treatment demand for alcoholic liver diseases and their complications. Stickel et al. found that alcoholic liver disease is a clinically silent disease with little or no signs in the early stages. In some patients any complications of cirrhosis might be the first symptomof alcoholic liver disease, in others alcoholic steatohepatitis is the primary manifestation. Aim To analyze tendencies of morphological organ changes and relations between different organ systems dysfunctions in individuals who died from alcoholic liver steatosis and liver cirrhosis. Methods A retrospective analysis was performed on data of people who died from alcoholic liver disease(steatosis and cirrhosis) and underwent autopsy in Kaunas Department of The State Forensic Medicine Service from 2014 to 2018. Alcoholic liver steatosis and cirrhosis were underlying diseases in these individuals. Autopsy findings used for the study include age, sex, cardiovascular, digestive and immune systems abnormalities. Descriptive observational study was performed. Examination reports of 162 individuals were examined: 91 cases of alcoholic liver steatosis and 71 of liver cirrhosis. Statistical analysis was done with Excel and IBM SPSS Statistics 26 software. Descriptive analysis methods were used to analyze collected data, demographic statistics. Differences between variables assessed using chi-square criteria,Mann-Whitney tests, tests of normality. Results were statistically significant when p <0.05. Results Age mean for alcoholic liver steatosis was 57,3 (± 10,5) years, cirrhosis – 54,3 (± 8,9) .[…].