Hepatitis or not hepatitis: It all depends on the liver biopsy... or does it?

Liver biopsy is very useful in both medical and surgical management. Accurate interpretation especially in medical liver diseases hinges on understanding of the clinical context that includes patient's clinical presentation and serologic, viral, and radiologic parameters, as well as others. Misinterpretation is possible especially in cases where certain "characteristic" features are interpreted out of context. This report describes a case that has features of chronic hepatitis with prominence of plasma cells and moderate fibrosis, but in which big picture revealed an alternative, non-hepatitic explanation for the biopsy features.