Correlation between disappearance of the intrahepatic bile ducts and histologic changes in the liver in primary biliary cirrhosis.

Statistical investigations indicate that disappearance of bile ducts, estimated by a histometric method, was more extensive in symptomatic than in asymptomatic patients with primary biliary cirrhosis. The extent and degree of intrahepatic bile duct disappearance in PBC is related to the degree of copper granule deposition in the hepatocytes, the degree of atypical ductular proliferations and the fibrous septa formation. Bile plug formation and chemically determined copper content are not so well related to the bile duct disappearance, while periportal lymphoid cell infiltration is not related to the degree or extent of bile duct disappearance at all.