[Association of sarcoidosis and primary biliary cirrhosis. Clinical and anatomopathologic study of a case followed for over 10 years].

A new case of primary biliary cirrhosis associated with sarcoidosis is reported in a 38 year-old woman. The diagnosis of sarcoidosis was based on the occurrence of cutaneous nodules, mediastinal lymph node enlargement, pulmonary reticular infiltrate, parotitis and diffuse arthritic pain, all disappearing after steroid therapy. Hepatic biopsy showed epithelioid-cell granuloma without necrosis. The diagnosis of primary biliary cirrhosis was made 6 years later as based on intrahepatic cholestasis associated with high titer of antimitochondrial antibodies and chronic destructive cholangitis. This association (5 other cases have already been reported) raises the problem of a possible link between the two diseases which could represent different patterns of a single immunological disorder.