Clinical features of forty patients with primary biliary cirrhosis / 中华医学杂志(英文版)
Chinese Medical Journal
;
(24): 904-908, 2002.
Article
in English
| WPRIM
| ID: wpr-302277
ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the clinical features of patients with primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) in order to improve the doctors' awareness of the disease.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>General status, clinical manifestations and laboratory findings of 40 patients with PBC were reviewed.Thirty-seven patients were females (37/40), and the mean age at diagnosis was 50.5 +/- 7.8 years. The time interval from initial symptoms or preliminary diagnosis to final diagnosis was 24.0 +/- 23.6 months.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The most frequently reported symptoms were fatigue (67.5%, 27/40), jaundice (60%, 24/40) and pruritus (32.5%, 17/40). Eight patients (20%) had associated auto-immune diseases (Sjogren's syndrome and/or rheumatoid a(c)arthritis). Serum alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and gamma glutamyl transpeptidase (gamma-GT) levels were markedly elevated (520.3 +/- 382.3 IU/L and 648.6 +/- 529.1 IU/L, respectively) in all patients, while alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) levels were mildly elevated (82.6 +/- 54.5 IU/L and 100.7 +/- 47.2 IU/L, respectively). Twenty-four patients (60%) had a total bilirubin level >/= 34.2 micromol/L. Thirty-five patients (87.5%) had elevated serum immunoglobin M,and 97.5% of patients (39/40 ) were anti-mitochondrial antibody (AMA)/AMA-M2 positive.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Elevated serum ALP and gamma-GT levels, together with a positive AMA/AMA-M2, can help the diagnosis of PBC. Liver biopsy is useful to confirm the diagnosis and to differentiate histopathological stages.</p>
Full text:
Available
Index:
WPRIM (Western Pacific)
Main subject:
Pathology
/
Biopsy, Needle
/
Hepatitis B, Chronic
/
Liver
/
Liver Cirrhosis, Biliary
Limits:
Adult
/
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Language:
English
Journal:
Chinese Medical Journal
Year:
2002
Type:
Article
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