Clinicopathological analysis of patients with primary biliary cirrhosis

Objective To analyze the clinical features,laboratory tests and the pathological changes of patients with primary biliary cirrhosis. Methods A retrospective study was designed to analyze the clinical manifestation,the laboratory tests and the pathological changes of the 53 PBC patients. Results Of the 53 cases,46(86.8%)were females. The median times from the onset of illness to diagnosis was 28 months. The main clinical manifestations included repeated hepatic dysfunction,hypodynamia,jaundice,itching,hepatosplenomegaly,etc. GGT and ALP were abnormal;73.6%(39/53)of patients’AMA and(or)AMA-M2 were positive,while another 14 patients’AMA and AMA-M2 negative. All were diagnosed as PBC by biopsy of liver. The pathological changes were as follows:stage Ⅰ(13cases),stage Ⅱ(20cases),stage Ⅲ(16casses)and stage Ⅳ(4cases). The patients were pathologically divided into stage Ⅰor Ⅱ(n=33)and stage Ⅲ or Ⅳ(n=20). The GGT and ALP levels were found significantly different between the two groups(P0.05). Patients’GGT and ALP were higher when their pathological changes were severe. Conclusion Diagnosis of PBC should be made not only by the serum bilirubin levels,but also by the clinical features and laboratory(especially GGT,ALT,auto-antibody)as well as histopathology examination.