VIDEO: Education needed to differentiate between PBC, PSC

BOSTON — In this exclusive video at The Liver Meeting, Gideon Hirschfield, MA, MB, PhD, of the Institute of Biomedical Research at the University of Birmingham, UK, discusses the importance of clinicians knowing the difference between rare liver diseases, such as primary biliary cholangitis and primary sclerosing cholangitis, to ensure proper diagnosis and treatment.

“For the first time there is a new therapy for patients with PBC, however it does bring some challenges to those people who don’t see patients with rare liver diseases because the name primary biliary cholangitis clearly has similarities to primary sclerosing cholangitis,” Hirschfield said.

He said that PSC is now the leading cause for liver transplantation in the U.K. and U.S. and that it is important to educate each other on the differences between the two diseases so patients receive a proper diagnosis.

“You wouldn’t want a patient with PSC to have a delayed diagnosis or not receive the proper imaging because of confusion with PBC,” he said.

Hirschfield further said that the name change from primary biliary cirrhosis to primary biliary cholangitis was a PBC patient initiative meant to remove the stigma of alcohol overuse attached to the word cirrhosis.

“We are pleased there is also an initiative to increase education across rare liver diseases, where patient support group PSC Partners has created an initiative to educate and highlight differences,” Hirschfield said. “Something as small as education can go a long way to make ensure that patients are diagnosed properly.”

Disclosure: Hirschfield reports consulting for BioTie, Intercept, Janssen, Lumena and Medigene.