• K P Batts and X Wang.
• Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota 55905, USA.
• Clin Liver Dis. 1998 May 1; 2 (2): 421-35, xi.

AbstractGiven the usually prolonged natural history of primary biliary cirrhosis, autoimmune cholangitis, and primary sclerosing cholangitis, and the relatively recent introduction of orthotopic liver transplantation, our understanding of recurrence of these autoimmune diseases after orthotopic liver transplantation has been slow to evolve. Present data suggest that after orthotopic liver transplantation, patients with primary biliary cirrhosis will have persistence of serum antimitochondrial antibodies, develop histologic lesions suggestive of recurrent primary biliary cirrhosis with a frequency in the 8% to 16% range at 2 to 5 years after orthotopic liver transplantation, but will demonstrate little if any symptomatic disease as a consequence. Although data are extremely limited, autoimmune cholangitis patients will have a similar post-transplant course (without antimitochondrial antibodies). Recurrence of primary sclerosing cholangitis remains the most controversial, however, these patients probably develop nonanastomotic intrahepatic and extrahepatic strictures more frequently than patients without primary sclerosing cholangitis, with a frequency in the 20% to 25% range at 3 to 5 years. With longer patient follow-up and additional studies, it is hoped that our understanding of recurrent autoimmune biliary diseases will grow considerably in the future.

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