Brief Article
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World J Hepatol. Oct 27, 2013; 5(10): 577-583
Published online Oct 27, 2013. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v5.i10.577
Primary biliary cirrhosis in HBV and HCV patients: Clinical characteristics and outcome
Eirini I Rigopoulou, Kalliopi Zachou, Nikolaos K Gatselis, Georgia Papadamou, George K Koukoulis, George N Dalekos
Eirini I Rigopoulou, Kalliopi Zachou, Nikolaos K Gatselis, Georgia Papadamou, Department of Medicine and Research Laboratory of Internal Medicine, Medical School, University of Thessaly, 41110 Larissa, Greece
George K Koukoulis, Department of Pathology, Medical School, University of Thessaly, 41110 Larissa, Greece
George N Dalekos, Department of Medicine and Research Laboratory of Internal Medicine, Medical School, University of Thessaly, 41110 Larissa, Greece
Author contributions: Rigopoulou EI, Zachou K and Dalekos GN had the original idea for the study, designed the study protocol and wrote the paper; Zachou K and Gatselis NK did the immune serology and virologic work-up and along with Rigopoulou EI; Papadamou G and Dalekos GN assessed the patients from the immunological and virological points of view; Koukoulis GK did the interpretation of the histological data of the patients; Zachou K, Gatselis NK and Dalekos GN collected the whole data, treated the patients in collaboration with Rigopoulou EI and Papadamou G, and performed the follow-up assessment while contributed to the final version of the paper; Koukoulis GK and Dalekos GN wrote the final version of the paper; all authors have seen and approved the final draft of the paper.
Supported by the Research Committee of the University of Thessaly in part (Code No. 2466)
Correspondence to: George N Dalekos, MD, PhD, Professor, Head, Department of Medicine and Research Laboratory of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Thessaly, Biopolis, 41110 Larissa, Greece. dalekos@med.uth.gr
Telephone: +30-241-3502285 Fax: +30-241-3501557
Received: August 1, 2013
Revised: September 13, 2013
Accepted: October 16, 2013
Published online: October 27, 2013
Processing time: 85 Days and 4.4 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: In hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) patients the possibility of concomitant primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC), is often very difficult to recognize and therefore, a significant delay in PBC diagnosis in this specific group of patients is usual. In this report, we clearly show that almost 1% of our HBV and HCV cohort had also PBC which had been misdiagnosed or underestimated for many years. The latter could be the reason of unfavorable outcome observed in our patients and in particular, among HCV/PBC patients. Therefore, the existence of cholestasis should prompt physicians to sick for antimitochondrial antibody with various sensitive techniques irrespective of the presence of other liver diseases.