Concurrence of Ulcerative Colitis and Chronic Active Hepatitis. Clinical Courses and Results of Colectomy

Olsson, R. & Hultén, L. Concurrence of ulcerative colitis and chronic active hepatitis. Clinical courses and results of colectomy. Scand. J. Gastroent. 1975, 10, 331-335.Seven patients with coexisting chronic active hepatitis and ulcerative colitis are reviewed. The activity of the two diseases varied independently. Proctocolectomy was necessitated in 6 patients and was followed by disappearance or decrease in titres of smooth muscle and antinuclear autoantibodies and immunoglobulins and, in one patient, by a rapid normalization of markedly elevated transaminases. Although the series are small, we feel that our data suggest that proctocolectomy for severe ulcerative colitis may have some beneficial effect on a coexisting chronic active hepatitis.