Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis

Medical Author: Dennis Lee, MD
Medical Editor: Jay W. Marks, MD

• What is primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC)?
• How common is primary sclerosing cholangitis?
• What causes primary sclerosing cholangitis?
• What are the symptoms of primary sclerosing cholangitis?
• What are the complications of primary sclerosing cholangitis?
• How is the diagnosis of primary sclerosing cholangitis made?
• How is primary sclerosing cholangitis treated?
• Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis At A Glance
• Find a local Gastroenterologist in your town

What is primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC)?

Primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) is a chronic (lasting years and decades), progressive (worsening over time) disease of the bile ducts that channel bile from the liver into the intestines.

The liver performs many functions; one of them is manufacturing bile. Bile is a watery liquid made by the cells of the liver that is important for digesting food in the intestine, particularly fat, and ridding the body of toxins. Liver cells secrete the bile they make into small canals within the liver. The bile flows through the canals and into larger collecting canals (ducts) within the liver (the intrahepatic bile ducts). The bile then flows within the intrahepatic bile ducts out of the liver and into the extrahepatic bile ducts. From the extrahepatic bile ducts, the bile flows into the intestine where the bile mixes with food.

In primary sclerosing cholangitis, the intrahepatic and extrahepatic bile ducts become inflamed, scarred and thickened (sclerotic), narrowed, and finally obstructed. Obstruction of the ducts can lead to abdominal pain, itching, jaundice, infection in the bile ducts (cholangitis), and liver scarring that leads to liver cirrhosis and liver failure.