Welcome to the online home of the Chris M. Carlos and Catherine Nicole Jockisch Carlos Endowment for Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis (PSC). Thanks to support provided by this endowment, dedicated Mayo Clinic investigators and their teams are making strides to better understand and treat PSC patients, with the ultimate goal of developing a cure for this disease.

Follow the PSC page and stay up-to-date as we post news about advances in PSC research, clinical trials, and available resources.

Public blog

2018-10-16 PSC Puzzle

 

Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis (PSC), a cholestatic liver disease characterized by persistent and progressive inflammation and scarring of the bile ducts, remains a puzzling disease.

  • Despite progress to develop new treatments, there is no effective medical therapy for this condition.
  • The disease affects about 1 in 10,000 people, more men than women, and is usually diagnosed during middle-age (around age 40).
  • 50 percent of those diagnosed with the disease present no symptoms; abnormal liver function test results are the only indicator of disease. For patients presenting symptoms, the disease reveals itself through fatigue, jaundice, itching and abdominal pain from liver damage, with 70-80 percent of patients suffering from inflammatory bowel disease (most commonly ulcerative colitis).

Further explanation of the disease can be found on the primary sclerosing cholangitis page at mayoclinic.org