Effect of colitis and ileoanal pouch on biliary enrichment of ursodeoxycholic acid in primary sclerosing cholangitis.

In primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC), biliary enrichment of ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) may represent the decisive factor for its presumable beneficial effect. Up to now it is not clear how colitis and colectomy with ileo-anal pouch affect the biliary enrichment of UDCA and the biliary bile acid composition. We determined the biliary bile acid composition in 63 patients with PSC including 7 patients with ileo-anal pouch, 31 patients with colitis, and 25 patients without colitis. No differences existed between patients with and those without colitis. In patients with colectomy and pouch at a UDCA dose of 17.7 +/- 1.6 mg/kg (n = 7), biliary UDCA represented 46.4 +/- 6.7% (mean +/- SD) of total bile acids. An increase in the dose in six pouch patients from 12.5 +/- 0.9 to 22.3 +/- 1.6 mg/kg led to a slight increase in biliary enrichment of UDCA, from 39.8 +/- 8.1 to 49.4 +/- 10.7%. In five of seven patients with ileo-anal pouch, biliary UDCA enrichment was within the normal range, and in two of seven it was permanently or intermittently abnormally low. During UDCA treatment, in pouch patients the biliary content of deoxycholic acid and lithocholic acid was reduced, whereas all other bile acids were unchanged. In a minority of patients with ileo-anal pouch, biliary enrichment of UDCA may be markedly reduced, whereas patients with colitis have a biliary UDCA enrichment not different from that of patient without colitis.