What is primary biliary cholangitis (PBC)?

How PBC affects the liver

The liver is a vital body organ. It’s the chemical factory of the body, carrying out over 500 different tasks. One of these is making bile.

Bile helps with digestion by breaking down fats in your diet. Bile is made throughout the liver and carried through bile ducts to the gallbladder. It’s then stored there until your body needs it.

If you have PBC, your bile ducts become inflamed. Over time, this inflammation damages the ducts. Eventually, as the disease advances, they can be destroyed. Without the ducts to carry the bile, it builds up in the liver and causes harm to the liver tissues.

Read  more about the liver  and what it does.

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Who gets PBC?

Doctors estimate that around 25,000 people in the UK have PBC. It can affect anyone. But it’s up to 10 times more common in women than men. It can affect people from all ethnic backgrounds.

PBC most often starts in middle age, although occasionally it can develop in people as early as their 20s. It can have very few symptoms early on.  So some people have had PBC for a few years before they are diagnosed. Research studies show that, out of women over 40 years old, at least 1 in every 1,000 has PBC.

Some people with PBC also develop a liver condition called autoimmune hepatitis (AIH). But it’s also possible to have AIH without having PBC. There is more about AIH in the section on diagnosing PBC.

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 Causes of PBC

Published: October 2024