Causes, Risk Factors, And Complications Of Primary Biliary Cholangitis

Portal Hypertension

Portal hypertension is a term used to describe when the blood pressure in a portal vein becomes too high. Blood pressure is the measurement of the force of blood on the walls of blood vessels as it is traveling through them. Biliary cholangitis causes the backup of bile into the tissues of the liver. Bile backup in the liver tissues can be toxic, damaging, and can destroy the cells that make up the organ. Liver tissues are repaired by the body when a mechanism like this causes damage but replaces the damaged tissue with a more fibrous type of tissue. When the liver develops scar tissue or fibrosis, the portal vein can no longer expand to accommodate the high volumes of blood flowing through it from the spleen, pancreas, and intestine. This malfunction causes the large volumes of blood to push with more force through the portal vein to pass through the liver, which causes an impaired ability to filter toxins and drugs from the bloodstream and portal hypertension.

Read more about the potential complications of primary biliary cholangitis now.