Pathology: a pictorial review. A selected atlas of paediatric liver pathology.

Indications for liver biopsy in children are often specific to this age group, especially in young children for the diagnosis of cholestasis. Since liver biopsies are quite unfrequent in the children population and concern rare but various diseases, it is recommended to entrust the analysis to a specialized liver pathologist, in a laboratory where cryoconservation, specific immuno-stainings, enzymatic studies, and electron microscopy can be performed. Histology is complementary to other methods for the diagnosis, and is valuable for the evaluation of the prognosis, especially the staging of fibrosis and the grading of inflammatory diseases. In cases of co-morbidity or difficult differential diagnosis, histology can also be of great value. For metabolic disorders, the liver tissue can also be used for enzyme detection or evaluation of iron or copper overload. Biopsy is also a key element in the management after liver transplantation. The microscopic images shown here are representative of the most frequent liver diseases in childhood and illustrate the data outlined during the conference.