Pathology cases — Congestive hepatopathy in an infant with atrial septal defect

A week-old infant was brought in with a history of possible unsafe sleeping conditions.  At autopsy, the decedent was noted to have a large ASD.  Examination of the liver revealed severe centrilobular congestion with hepatic necrosis.

I diagnosed this a congestive hepatopathy. On peer review, my colleagues found viral inclusions that made this a TORCH diagnosis. I misdiagnosed this case, and amended the report. Obviously, I’m also deleting the images.

This is a good lesson that even after doing this for decades, I can miss things. A little humilty is important in this job.

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