Observation on therapeutic efficacy of ursodeoxycholic acid in Chinese patients with primary biliary cirrhosis: a 2-year follow-up study

The efficacy of ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) on long-term outcome of primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) has been less documented in Chinese cohort. We aimed to assess the therapeutic effect of UDCA on Chinese patients with PBC. In the present study, 67 patients with PBC were treated with UDCA (13–15 mg·kg−1·day−1) and followed up for 2 years to evaluate the changes of symptoms, laboratory values and histological features. As the results indicated, fatigue and pruritus were obviously improved by UDCA, particularly in patients with mild or moderate symptoms. The alkaline phosphatase and γ-glutamyl transpetidase levels significantly declined at year 2 comparing to baseline values, with the most profound effects achieved in patients at stage 2. The levels of alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase significantly decreased whereas serum bilirubin and immunoglobulin M levels exhibited no significant change. Histological feature was stable in patients at stages 1–2 but still progressed in patients at stages 3–4. The biochemical response of patients at stage 2 was much better than that of patients at stages 3–4. These data suggest that, when treated in earlier stage, patients in long-term administration of UDCA can gain favorable results not only on symptoms and biochemical responses but also on histology. It is also indicated that later histological stage, bad biochemical response and severe symptom may be indicators of poor prognosis for UDCA therapy.