Diagnosis

The presence of liver disease is detected by liver function tests on a single sample of blood. People with PBC nearly always have the specific antibody, AMA (antimitochondrial antibody), and finding this in the blood is useful in reaching a diagnosis.

As physical obstruction is a relatively common cause of jaundice, quite often the bile ducts need to be X-rayed or visualised by ultrasound to confirm there is no such blockage lower down the biliary tree.

Diagnosis of PBC can be confirmed with a biopsy which involves taking a very small sample of cells from the liver with a needle. This also helps to determine the extent of any liver damage.