A case of primary biliary cirrhosis(PBC) followed with abdominal US, PTP and histological findings of the liver for five years. Evidence for the changes in intrahepatic portal vein tributaries.

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The authors report a case of PBC followed with abdominal US, PTP and histological examinations of the liver during five years.<BR>A 62-year-old woman was diagnosed of asymptomatic PBC. Thereafter her conditions seemed to progress to liver cirrhosis because of portal hypertension such as ascites and varices. The histological findings of the liver, however, revealed no cirrhotic changes but portal fibrosis particularly around the portal vein branches with slight abnormalities in the liver parenchyma on autopsy.<BR>At the same time PTP demonstrated remarkable changes on the peripheral branches of portal veins in the liver, inducing portal hypertension, as compared with the first time PTP. The present study would provide evidence that portal hypertension in PBC is caused mainly by the narrowings of intrahepatic portal vein branches in the precirrhosis stage.