Changing nomenclature for PBC: From ‘cirrhosis’ to ‘cholangitis’

The disease entity today widely called ‘primary biliary cirrhosis’ was first described by Addison & Gull in 1851 [1] and Hanot in 1876 [2]. One hundred years after its first description, MacMahon & Thannhauser proposed the term ‘xanthomatous biliary cirrhosis’ for this disease based on the typical xanthoma formation with accumulation of cholesterol esters in the skin around the eyes in association with inflammatory destruction of small intrahepatic bile ductules leading to a biliary type cirrhosis [3].