MANIFESTATION LATE IN LIFE OF IDIOPATHIC ADULTHOOD DUCTOPENIA

Idiopathic adulthood ductopenia is a chronic cholestasic liver disease of unknown etiology characterized by the loss of interlobular bile du cts. We describe three patients who fulfilled the diagnostic criteria of idiopathic adulthood ductopenia, but differed from the cases report ed so far in late manifestation of the disease and a benign clinical c ourse despite histologic evidence of ongoing cholangitis, Treatment wi th ursodeoxycholic acid in one patient resulted in improvement of bioc hemical markers of cholestasis, suggesting that chronic cholestasis in idiopathic adulthood ductopenia can be influenced beneficially.