Weight loss in primary biliary cirrhosis.

Weight loss in primary biliary cirrhosis.

Duodenal bile salt concentrations were measured throughout one day in six patients with primary biliary cirrhosis while they were eating a normal ward diet. Five of them had lost weight; none had ascites. Each patient had a radiologically normal small bowel and a normal jejunal biopsy. No clear relationship between high faecal fat excretion and abnormally low duodenal bile salt concentration wa...

Low molecular weight IgM in primary biliary cirrhosis.

Low molecular weight IgM is the monomeric subunit of pentameric IgM and is not generally found in the blood of healthy individuals. Using a sensitive immunoblotting technique, low molecular weight IgM was detected in all 17 patients with primary biliary cirrhosis and constituted up to 5% of the total circulating IgM. This low molecular weight IgM moiety correlated significantly with total IgM (...

Asymptomatic primary biliary cirrhosis.

Primary biliary cirrhosis.

Primary biliary cirrhosis is a chronic liver disease characterised by intrahepatic bile-duct destruction, cholestasis, and, in some cases, cirrhosis. Evidence supporting the autoimmune nature of this disorder includes the appearance of highly specific antimitochondrial antibodies (AMAs) and autoreactive T cells. Concordance rates in monozygotic twins, familial prevalence, and genetic associatio...

Primary Biliary Cirrhosis

Primary Biliary Cirrhosis (PBC) is the result of long-standing damage to intra-hepatic biliary channels as a result of immune mechanisms leading to cholestasis and its associated complications. It can end up in chronic liver disease or cirrhosis. It usually manifests as pruritis that then proceeds to fatigue, jaundice and other features of chronic liver disease. It is detected by raised serolog...