Primary Biliary Cirrhosis

For more than a century physicians have been fascinated and frustrated by a rare clinicopathological syndrome characterized by chronic jaundice that seems to be obstructive, with pruritus and xanthomatosis, chemical evidence of impaired bile excretion and a slowly advancing inflammatory and destructive process apparently centered about the intrahepatic biliary radicles. Clinicians and pathologists alike have contributed to the confusion that pervades the medical literature and overwhelms the average physician seeking guidance in the diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of primary biliary cirrhosis. Distracting descriptive names, overemphasis of secondary clinical features and naïve speculation about etiology have abounded in clinical papers. Pathologists . . .