Primary biliary cirrhosis: an underestimated disorder ?

Of 2,782 sera submitted for autoanti body immunofluorescence screening, 32 were found to have antimitochondrial antibody (AMA) of the type associated with liver disease (M2/M4 pattern). Liver biopsies were obtained in 14 of these patients; 12 were found to have primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) (Group A) whereas histological evidence of chronic active hepatitis was present in two others. The remaining 18 patients were not considered by the referring clinicians to have clinical evidence of PBC and consequently were not biopsied (Group B).