Nutmeg Liver

Nutmeg Liver

No, congestion is not just reserved for your sinuses in the medical field. Nutmeg liver is another name for chronic passive congestion of the liver. It’s also known as congestive heapatopathy. This is a result of congestive heart failure, which in laypersons’ terms is a sick heart that cannot pump blood as well as it used to. With a poorly functioning heart, blood essentially “backs up” in the venous system (the half of your circulatory system that is responsible for bringing deoxygenated blood back to the heart). The intricate network of veins found in the liver becomes engorged with blood, giving the liver the microscopic appearance of a grated nutmeg. Unfortunately you can’t grate a nutmeg liver into your favorite apple pie or nip of eggnog; if heart function is not restored, the liver can become permanently damaged, resulting in fibrosis, which is scarring of diseased tissue.