Mallory bodies
Last reviewed 01/2018
Mallory bodies are a microscopic feature of liver disease. Imaginatively described as "candle droppings", they are made up of aggregates of intermediate filaments of prekeratin and occur in ballooned, degenerating hepatocytes.
Classically, Mallory bodies are associated with alcoholic hepatitis.
Other conditions in which they may occur include:
- primary biliary cirrhosis
- Wilson's disease
- prolonged cholestasis
- Indian childhood cirrhosis
- focal nodular hyperplasia
- hepatocellular carcinoma