PRIMARY BILIARY CIRRHOSIS: DIAGNOSTIC CRITERIA AND THE AUTHORS’ EXPERIENCE WITH THERAPY
The incidence rate of primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) is 4 to 40 per 100,000 in people of different ethnicities. The basic morphological substrate of the disease is autoimmune nonpurulent destructive cholangitis characterized by the development of clinical and laboratory intrahepatic cholestasis. The treatment of PBC involves mandatory long use of ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) in a dose of 13-15 mg/kg/day. The authors’ experience with UDCA in the retrospective investigation demonstrates it necessary to study the clinical efficacy of its preparations in randomized controlled prospective trials.