Challenging Cases in Medical Liver Disease

Medical liver diseases can present numerous diagnostic dilemmas for the surgical pathologist, as there is a limited spectrum of histologic changes and considerable morphologic overlap among disease states. An approach to medical liver disease diagnosis will be presented that utilizes pattern recognition in combination with interpretation of key laboratory data and elements of the available clinical history to arrive at a final diagnosis, or at least a limited differential that is of value to clinicians.

Lecture Presenter
John Hart, MD
John Hart, MD
Professor of Pathology and Chief of the Section of Gastrointestinal and Hepatic Pathology, University of Chicago School of Medicine

Dr. John Hart graduated from the University of Iowa Medical School in 1986. He did his pathology residency at U.C.L.A. Medical Center in Los Angeles, followed by a Gastrointestinal and Hepatic Pathology fellowship at the same institution. In 1991 he joined the faculty of the University of Chicago, Department of Pathology as an assistant professor, and rose to the rank of full professor in 2004. He is the chief of the Gastrointestinal and Hepatology Pathology section and director of the fellowship program. The fellowship has graduated more than a dozen GI pathologists who are now working in academic pathology departments throughout the United States. Dr. Hart has published more than 180 articles in the fields of gastrointestinal and hepatic pathology and has also authored numerous book chapters. He has lectured throughout the United States and in Europe and Asia. He currently is a member of the Board of Directors of the United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology and the vice president of the Rodger Haggitt Gastrointestinal Pathology Society.

Objectives

After this presentation, participants will be able to:

Recognize characteristic histologic features that allow clear separation of the various patterns of medical liver disease
Describe the elements of the clinical history and laboratory test results important in narrowing the differential diagnosis considerations for the various patterns of medical liver disease
Identify elements that are most essential in the reporting of medical liver biopsies based on the integration of the histologic pattern of disease, clinical history and key laboratory values.