1984 Volume 25 Issue 11 Pages 1461-1467
A 55-year-old housewife was hospitalized with symptoms of pruritus and jaundice. Total bilirubin and transamiase values were slightiy high, and Al-P, γ-GTP and IgM levels were markedly elevated. Anti-mitochondrial antibody was positive, and liver biopsy showed a typical picture of chronic non-suppurative cholangitis (PBC, Stage I). She had xerostomia and xerophthalmia, and histological features of salivary gland were that of Sjogren's syndrome. Serum and urinary amylase levels were elevated with predominancy of pancreatic isoamylase. Her sister also contracted asymptomatic PBC, and two other sisters had hyperamylasenemia.
To evaluate the pancreatic damage histologically, biopsy of the pancreas was performed simultaneously with surgical liver biopsy. Biopsied specimen of the pancreas revealed diffuse mononuclear cell aggregates in the parenchyma. Prominent degeneration of the acinar cells were also observed associating with mononuclear cell infiltration. Altough histological findings of the pancreas were not as specific as those of PBC or Sjogren's syndrome, the possibility that the pancreatic damage was associated with these two diseases can not be excluded.
