Hepatocyte functional state. Quantitative evaluation with I-131 rose bengal in lepromatous leprosy patients.

Relatively little interes t is evident in the study of visceral manifes tations of leprosy, in spi te of their clinical importance ( 1), The liver might be expected to be the organ most freguently affected; it is responsible for plasma protein alterations, e.g. , effective albumin reduction and globulin increase, Histologic reports show that hepatic lesions in lepromatous leprosy are characterized by the transformation of Kupffer cells and Kiernan's space histiocytes into Virchow cells. There is miliary granuloma dissemination, and degenerative and proliferative alterations occur, such as amyloidosis, fibrosis and cilThosis, These lesions seem to occur simultaneously with cutaneous lesions (3). Hepatic biopsy puncture is little used, although it has the advantage of identifying the location of the invasive processes of disease. Biopsy puncture shows not only the disease's last evolutive stage but also its eventual involvement in any stage of the disease. It shows that the liver can be