[Diagnostic value of anti-mitochondria antibodies].

The histological lesions found in patients with hepatic disease and positive anti-mitochondrial antibodies (AMA) by immunofluorescence were compared with those in 10 subjects of the same age and sex with negative AMA. The majority of the patients with positive AMA were suffering from primary biliary cirrhosis, the diagnosis being based upon the histological appearance (Stage 1 of Scheuer's classification: 40%) or the presence of clinical signs of cholestasis with a compatible histological appearance (40%). None of the remaining patients (20%) with positive AMA nor the 10 individuals with negative AMA showed histological signs suggestive of primary biliary cirrhosis. The absence of certain clinico-biological factors, with the exception of Stage 1 histology, gives a high degree of value to a high level of AMA in the diagnostic of PBC.