Idiopathic adulthood ductopenia.
In 1981, a 26 year old man occasionally demonstrated elevated serum transaminase concentrations. He had no history of medication, or a personal or family history of jaundice, except for prolonged physiological jaundice as a neonate. Serum hepatitis B surface antigen, hepatitis C virus antibody and anti-mitochondrial antibody were absent. A wedge biopsy specimen revealed ductular proliferation, mild inflammation of the portal area and disappearance of bile ducts from 80% of the portal tracts. Serial sections demonstrated a vanishing bile duct. Endoscopic retrograde choledochopancreatography, portography and arteriography demonstrated no abnormalities. In 1994, the patient died of hepatic failure following a 12 year observation period. He was subsequently diagnosed with idiopathic adulthood ductopenia on the basis of the criteria proposed by Ludwig.
Nakano
I
I
Second Department of Internal Medicine, Nagoya University School of Medicine, Japan.
Fukuda
Y
Y
Koyama
Y
Y
Urano
F
F
Yamada
M
M
Katano
Y
Y
Marui
A
A
Imada
K
K
Hayakawa
T
T
Ito
M
M
Yamashita
Y
Y
Imoto
M
M
Nakanuma
Y
Y
D000328:Adult; D001649:Bile Duct Diseases / Q000473:pathology*; D001653:Bile Ducts, Intrahepatic / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male