Inflammatory bowel disease and primary sclerosing cholangitis: One disease or two?

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articleAcademicpeer-review

7 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) was declared one of the biggest unmet needs in hepatology during International Liver Congress 2016 in Berlin. Since then, not much has changed unfortunately, largely due to the still elusive pathophysiology of the disease. One of the most striking features of PSC is its association with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), with the majority of patients with PSC being diagnosed with extensive colitis. This review describes the epidemiology of IBD in PSC, its specific phenotype, complications and potential pathophysiological mechanisms connecting the two diseases. Whether PSC is merely an extra-intestinal manifestation of IBD or if PSC and IBD are two distinct diseases that happen to share a common susceptibility that leads to a dual phenotype is debated. Implications for the management of the two diseases together are also discussed. Overall, this review summarises the available data in PSC-IBD and discusses whether PSC and IBD are one or two disease(s).

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)155-168
Number of pages14
JournalJournal of Hepatology
Volume80
Issue number1
Early online date2023
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jan 2024

Keywords

  • Etiology
  • IBD
  • PSC
  • gut-liver axis
  • pathophysiology

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