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Antimitochondrial Antibodies (cont.)
John M. Vierling, MD, FACP
John M. Vierling M.D. is Professor of Medicine and Surgery at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, where he also serves as Director of Baylor Liver Health and Chief of Hepatology. In addition, he is the Director of Advanced Liver Therapies, a center devoted to clinical research in hepatobiliary diseases at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital. Dr. Vierling is board certified in internal medicine and gastroenterology and a Fellow of the American College of Physicians.
Leslie J. Schoenfield, MD, PhD
Dr. Schoenfield served as associate professor of medicine and consultant in gastroenterology on the faculty of the Mayo Clinic for seven years. He became a professor of medicine in residence at UCLA from 1972 to 1999 (now emeritus). He was the director of gastroenterology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles for 25 years, where he received the chief resident's teaching award, the president's award, and the pioneer of medicine award.
In this Article
- What are antimitochondrial antibodies (AMA)?
- Do AMA cause the destruction of the bile ducts in PBC?
- How is the blood test for AMA done?
- What is the value of the AMA blood test?
What is the value of the AMA blood test?
AMA are detectable in the serum in 95 to 98% of patients with PBC. So, AMA
are tremendously important as a diagnostic marker in patients with PBC. The AMA
titers in PBC are almost universally greater than or equal to 1 to 40. This
means that a serum sample diluted with 40 times its original volume still
contains enough antimitochondrial antibodies to be detected in the binding
reaction. A positive AMA with a titer of at least 1:40 in an adult with an
elevated alkaline phosphatase in the blood is highly specific for a diagnosis of
PBC.
Last Editorial Review: 2/23/2004
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