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Primary biliary cirrhosis associated with Graves’ disease in a male patient

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Abstract

Primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC), which predominantly affects women, has been associated with various autoimmune diseases. Although hypothyroidism accompanying PBC is well documented, the concomitance of PBC and hyperthyroidism is rare. Herein, we report the case of a 62-year-old man who was diagnosed with PBC several years after the development of Graves’ disease. This is the first case of a male patient developing PBC with Graves’ disease. Both serum alanine aminotransferase levels and serum thyroid hormone levels were normalized after the administration of thiamazole for Graves’ disease. However, the cholestatic liver enzyme abnormalities continued, indicating that the PBC was actualized by the administration of thiamazole. After starting ursodeoxycholic acid treatment, cholestatic liver enzyme abnormalities improved. Taken together, when a cholestatic pattern of liver enzymes is observed during follow-up for Graves’ disease, an association between Graves’ disease and PBC should be considered as a differential diagnosis.

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Correspondence to Yuji Suzuki.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest in relation to this study.

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All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1964 and its later amendments.

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Informed consent was obtained from all patients included in the study.

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Suzuki, Y., Ishida, K., Takahashi, H. et al. Primary biliary cirrhosis associated with Graves’ disease in a male patient. Clin J Gastroenterol 9, 99–103 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12328-016-0635-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12328-016-0635-x

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