| Theme |
PSC and PBC -- Recent Progress in Diagnosis and Treatment |
| Title |
Drug Therapy for PBC |
| Author |
Fusao Ikeda |
Department of Gastroenterology, Okayama University Hospital |
| Author |
Kazuhide Yamamoto |
Department of Gastroenterology, Okayama University Hospital |
| [ Summary ] |
Ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) is used as the standard therapy for patients with primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) at a daily dose of 600 mg. Recent studies have revealed that UDCA is effective for improving abnormal biliary enzyme activity in PBC patients. It has been also shown that longterm UDCA treatment improves survival rates for PBC patients. However, some patients are refractory to ursodeoxycholic acid. Additive improvement may be induced by increasing the dose to 900 mg UDCA or combination treatment with bezafibrate at a daily dose of 400 mg in addition to UDCA in those patients. Patients with PBC overlap syndrome and autoimmune hepatitis may experience interface hepatitis in addition to chronic cholangitis. Corticosteroid therapy is recommended for those patients. |