A Case of Primary Biliary Cirrhosis Followed up for More Than 7 Years

The patient was a 42-year-old woman, whose earliest symptom was generalized pruritus, and was admitted to the Keiyu Hospital in December in 1967. Liver function tests at that time reflect cholestasis with markedly elevated alkaline phosphatase (max. 115 K.A.U.) and cholesterol levels (max. 622mg per dl.), whereas serum albumin levels remained normal. Then she admitted to our hospital on the 4th of September in 1973, complaining of severe pruritus and jaundice. After admission, the pathologic fractures of the right 9th rib occurred. In endoscopic pancreatico-cholangiography, no obstruction in extrahepatic bile ducts was found. She died of acute adrenal failure on the 21st of March in 1974. In autopsy, the liver was 1, 440g and histological diagnosis was primary biliary cirrhosis.