Table 1.
Clinical characteristics of the four included patient groups
| Controls (n = 11) | PSC (n = 14) | SSC (n = 10) | CCC (n = 6) with PSC (n = 2) | P value | |
| Gender (M/F) | 9/2 | 10/4 | 10/0 | 3/3 | |
| Age at ERC (yr) | 52.8 ± 6.6 | 41.1 ± 2.3 | 52.1 ± 4.0 | 64.5 ± 5.2 | 0.02; PSCa |
| Serum albumin level (g/L) | 41.5 ± 1.5 | 39.2 ± 1.9 | 37.6 ± 3.1 | 34.5 ± 1.4 | 0.13 |
| (ND in 3) | (ND in 5) | ||||
| Serum AP level (U/L) | 221.3 ± 99.9 | 271.5 ± 37.1 | 1004 ± 304 | 357 ± 62.4 | 0.003; controlsd |
| (ND in 1) | (ND in 3) | ||||
| Serum bilirubin level (mg/dL) | 1.6 ± 0.5 | 2.7 ± 0.8 | 5.3 ± 2.3 | 4.9 ± 1.9 | 0.39 |
| (ND in 1) | (ND in 2) | ||||
| Sterile bile or scarce bacterial growth/moderate or abundant bacterial growth | 6/5 | 9/5 | 5/5 | 4/1 (ND in 1) | |
| Intake of UDCA (yes/no) | 0/11 | 13/1 | 6/2 | 3/3 | |
| (2 unknown) | |||||
| Dominant bile duct stenosis (yes/no) | 0/11 | 4/10 | 1/9 | 6/0 | |
| Choledocholithiasis and/or sludge (yes/no) | 9/2 | 0/14 | 2/8 | 0/6 | |
| Diagnosis of inflammatory bowel disease (yes/no) | 0/11 | 10/4 | 0/10 | 2/4 |
M: Male; F: Female; PSC: Primary sclerosing cholangitis; AP: Alkaline phosphatase; ERC: Endoscopic retrograde cholangiography; UDCA: Ursodeoxycholic acid; ND: Not done.
a
P < 0.05 vs Cholangiocellular carcinoma (CCC);
d
P < 0.01 vs Secondary sclerosing cholangitis (SSC).