A clinico-pathologic study of asymptomatic primary biliary cirrhosis

Abstract

A clino-pathologic study was carried out on 11 cases with asymptomatic primary biliary cirrhosis (group A) compared with 6 cases with primary biliary cirrhosis (group B). Nine patients of Group A and all patients of group B were females. The mean age of group A was 54 years, and for group B, 52 years. All cases were operative wedge biopsy. Histological features were classified by Scheuer's classification. Stage I was found in 10 patients of group A, and in 1 patient of group A, and in 3 patients of group B. Liver function tests for group A exhibited lower mean serum alkaline phosphatase, transaminase and γ-GTP than did group B. The mitochondrial antibody was positive in 10 cases of group A, and for all cases within this group the mean IgG and IgM were 1477±379mg/ml and 382±153mg/ml respectively. All cases in group B exhibited positive mitochondrial antibody. Also within group B the mean IgG and IgM were 2833±1046 and 856±636mg/ml respectively.
These results show that asymptomatic primary biliary cirrhosis can be detected at early stage by various liver function tests as well as by immunological findings, and presumably the length of the stage is variable.