title: Primary biliary cirrhosis and myopathy: an uncommon association.
abstract: Primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) is a cholestatic liver disease, which is characterized by a chronic inflammatory destruction of intrahepatic bile ducts. It is a rare disorder whose precise etiology is still to be elucidated. Even though the liver is the principal target of PBC, other organ systems also might be affected. Muscular involvement has rarely been described in this disease, and in the majority of cases, muscular weakness has been interpreted as polymyositis. We report the case of a 48-year-old woman suffering from classic PBC, in association with a myopathy whose histological features are distinct from the cases reported before. We also performed a MEDLINE research for PBC and concomitant muscular diseases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Medicine, School of Medicine, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: B C
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Migueletto
authors.forename: A E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Neto
authors.forename: E Z
authors.initials: EZ
authors.lastname: Domingues
authors.forename: P P
authors.initials: PP
authors.lastname: Neves de Castro
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Stocker
authors.forename: S K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Marie
authors.forename: L P
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Meireles
authors.forename: M H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Arai
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008105:Liver Cirrhosis, Biliary / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology; D008875:Middle Aged; D017285:Polymyositis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology