Hepatic and Splenic Hyaloserositis

TL;DR

The paper describes a rare condition called hyaloserositis in a patient with liver cirrhosis and highlights its diagnostic challenges and limited documentation in pathology literature.

Contribution

The study presents a new pathological case and emphasizes the lack of prior publications from a pathologist's perspective on hyaloserositis.

Findings

Hyaloserositis was observed in both the liver and spleen of a 71-year-old female with liver cirrhosis.

Only seven cases of hyaloserositis were found in the literature review, with no prior pathologist-focused reports.

The condition may mimic malignancy in imaging, requiring further scientific synthesis for accurate diagnosis.

Abstract

Hyaloserositis, also known as the icing sugar phenomenon, may be commonly observed during autopsies; however, it is not a well-documented topic with varying nomenclature and etiology, which can be generally defined as an organ being covered with a shiny, fibrous hyaline membrane. In our work, we present the case of a 71-year-old female patient with alcohol-induced liver cirrhosis and subsequent ascites and recurrent peritonitis. During the autopsy, a cirrhotic liver and an enlarged spleen were observed, both exhibiting features consistent with hyaloserositis, accompanied by acute fibrinopurulent peritonitis. Histological examination revealed the classical manifestation of hyaloserositis, further proven by Crossmon staining. The cause of death was concluded as hepatic encephalopathy. During our literature review, a total of seven cases were found. It must be emphasized that no publication describing hyaloserositis from the perspective of a pathologist was discovered. Regarding etiology, abdominal presentations were most commonly caused by serohepatic tuberculosis, while pleural manifestation was observed following trauma. Hyaloserositis may prove to be a diagnostic difficulty in imaging findings, as it can mimic malignancy; therefore, a scientific synthesis is necessary.

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