A clinicopathological study in primary biliary cirrhosis

Twenty-two patients with clinical, biochemical, immunological and pathological characteristics compatible with primary biliary cirrhosis were studied. There were 17 women and 5 men with a mean age of 57.4 +/- 15.2 years and a mean follow-up of 24.1 +/- 20.1 months. Four of them expired during the follow-up and eighteen patients now survive. The most common complaints were fatigue (63.6%) and itching (59.1%). Only one case (4.5%) was asymptomatic in this series. The major physical findings were jaundice (50%) and hepatomegaly (50%). The significant laboratory findings were: elevation of alkaline phosphatase (91% of the cases greater than 3 times the upper limit of normal), gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (100% of the cases greater than 4 times the upper limit of normal), aspartate transaminase (95%) and alanine transaminase (100%), presence of anti-mitochondrial antibodies (91%), antinuclear antibodies (73%) and the elevation of IgM (88%). One case was associated with ulcerative colitis. Pathological staging in this series revealed 57.9% of stage II, 26% of stage III, 10% of stage IV and 5.3% of stage I. All patients with granuloma survived but 4 of the 5 patients with cholestasis died during follow-up. The results show that the features in this series of PBC were similar to those observed in western countries. The very high ALP and gamma-GT level as well as only one asymptomatic case in this series, suggest that our patients were diagnosed at a late stage. The reason(s) for the higher positivity of ANA, particularly the speckled type and a lower rate of associated auto-immune disease requires further study. Liver biopsy in predicting a prognosis is valuable.