Hepatic Anthracosis: A case report

ABSTRACT

The authors report a case of hepatic anthracosis, which was found incidentally during cholecystectomy in a 73 year-old woman with acute cholecystitis. Hepatic anthracosis is a very rare condition among pigmentary lesions of the liver. Light microscopic examination revealed black granular pigments within Kupffer cells, particularly adjacent to the terminal hepatic venules, and macrophages at the portal tracts. The pigments did not show birefringence under the polarizing microscope and did fade out following pretreatment with alcoholic picric acid, confirming themselves anthracotic pigments.