PREVALENCE OF HEPATOBILIARY DYSFUNCTION IN PATIENTS WITH ULCERATIVE-COLITIS

The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of hepatobiliary dysfunction in a regional unselected group of ulcerative colitis (UC) patients. Five hundred and thirty-four patients were included in this study. Eighty-one per cent of them had never had abnormal alkaline pho sphatase (ALP) values and 72 % no abnormal alanine amino-transferase ( ALAT) values. Thirty patients (6 %) had had ALP values more than twice the normal (> 550 U/L) at least once during their disease. Furthermor e, 24 (34 %) out of 70 patients with routine liver biopsy at colectomy had changes in their liver histology, 13 (19 %) of these also having ALP and ALAT values within normal range. Primary sclerosing cholangiti s (PSC) had been diagnosed in 11 (2 %) patients. All but one of the PS C patients had had ALP and ALAT values more than twice the normal. Alm ost 30 % of all patients had had abnormalities in their liver biochemi stry at least once during their disease. Normal liver biochemistry did not seem to exclude changes in liver histology. Although minor hepato biliary dysfunction is common in patients with UC, more serious condit ions such as PSC were found to occur in only 2 % of patients.