title: Autoimmune cholangitis: case report.
abstract: We report on 2 patients who showed mixed signs of primary biliary cirrhosis and autoimmune hepatitis. Both patients were female, in their fifties (54 and 58), their laboratory tests indicated cholestasis, and a liver biopsy revealed liver cirrhosis with significant lesions of the bile ducts. Both were treated with prednisolone with their liver tests showing a rapid normalization of their aminotransferases. These patients can be considered as presenting with what is known as the overlap syndrome or autoimmune cholangitis, which has the clinical, biochemical, immunological, and histopathological characteristics of primary biliary cirrhosis and autoimmune hepatitis type I.
authors.affiliation: Hepatology Unit, Medicine 2, Hospital Santa Maria, Lisbon, Portugal. rltmarinho@mail.telepac.pt
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Marinho
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Graça
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ramalho
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Costa
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Batista
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: de Moura
mesh_terms: D001706:Biopsy; D002761:Cholangitis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D019693:Hepatitis, Autoimmune / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology; D008105:Liver Cirrhosis, Biliary / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000276:immunology*; D008111:Liver Function Tests; D008875:Middle Aged; D011239:Prednisolone / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D011239:Prednisolone