Fatty Liver in Diabetes

Cytological liver specimens from 100 diabetics have been stained by the May‐Grünwald‐Giemsa method, and with oil red O. Satisfactory smears were obtained in 91 cases. Fatty liver was found in 48%, and vacuolated nuclei in 57%. A close correlation was found between obesity and fatty liver, and some correlation between the serum triglyceride level and fatty liver. The serum cholesterol level did not correlate with the incidence of fatty liver. This was commoner in maturity‐onset diabetes than in young insulin‐treated diabetics. Nuclear vacuolation was commoner in fatty‐liver than in normal liver cells. Application of the fine‐needle aspiration biopsy technique, together with staining of the smears with oil red O, was found to be a useful method for study of the incidence of fatty liver.