When caring for patients with acute liver injury, a bedrock assumption is that normal hepatic
function will usually be restored once the injurious stimuli have resolved. The main factor
underlying the restoration of liver function is the remarkable ability of differentiated
hepatocytes to undergo compensatory hyperplasia (“regeneration”), which is observed after
partial liver resection, transplantation, or insults causing widespread cell death, such as
viruses, alcohol, drugs, toxins, ischemia, and autoimmune hepatitis. The capacity of the liver …