Liver transplantation

PBC takes a long time to develop and it affects different people in many different ways. Most have few or no symptoms for many years and some live with a benign form of the illness with little or no discomfort. Many do have symptoms, but never reach end-stage PBC. For those few who do reach this stage, liver transplantation may be considered, especially where quality of life is deteriorating.

If medical treatment no longer controls the disease and the person has severe liver failure, transplantation will be considered. Because PBC progresses slowly, transplantation can be carefully planned and those with PBC have very good results compared to all liver transplant patients. Over six hundred successful liver transplants are performed annually in the UK for various liver diseases, which dramatically improve people's quality of life.