Acute and chronic pericholangiolitis in association with multifocal hepatic lymphangiomatosis.

Multifocal, lymphangiomatous lesions were found in the right lobe of the liver of a 9-year-old girl who died seven days after head trauma. We believe the lesions represent a cystic and pseudoneoplastic dilatation of liver lymphatics secondary to a posttraumatic complication, acute and chronic inflammation primarily of small bile ducts, and canaliculi (pericholangiolitis). The findings provide new evidence that inflammation and fluid overload, in the absence of a congenital malformation, are cardinal factors in the pathogenesis of some forms of lymphangiomatosis.