FREE NEJM E-TOC    HOME   |   SUBSCRIBE   |   CURRENT ISSUE   |   PAST ISSUES   |   COLLECTIONS   |   Search Term  Advanced Search

Sign in | Get NEJM's E-Mail Table of Contents — Free | Subscribe

Previous Volume 336:1387-1388 May 8, 1997 Number 19 Next

	Since this article has no abstract, we have provided an extract of the first 100 words of the full text and any section headings.

	Full Text Purchase this article Add to Personal Archive Add to Citation Manager Notify a Friend E-mail When Cited Related Article by Kaplan, M. M.

To the Editor: In his excellent review of primary biliary cirrhosis (Nov. 21 issue),¹ Dr. Kaplan states that the serum alkaline phosphatase concentration is "invariably elevated" in this disorder. However, several studies have reported that the alkaline phosphatase concentration may sometimes be normal in the presence of antimitochondrial antibodies and characteristic histologic findings.^2,3 My colleagues and I observed "florid duct lesions," antimitochondrial antibodies, and a normal alkaline phosphatase concentration in the sister of a patient with primary biliary cirrhosis (the biopsy was performed at the time of cholecystectomy).⁴ Moreover, one recent report has documented the progression over years to more . . . [Full Text of this Article]

References

HOME  |  SUBSCRIBE  |  SEARCH  |  CURRENT ISSUE  |  PAST ISSUES  |  COLLECTIONS  |  PRIVACY  |  HELP  |  beta.nejm.org Comments and questions? Please contact us. The New England Journal of Medicine is owned, published, and copyrighted © 2008 Massachusetts Medical Society. All rights reserved.