13C-methacetin breath test correlates with clinical indices of liver disease severity in patients with primary biliary cirrhosis.

C-MBT) was applied, and the results were related to histological Ludwig's staging system and several indices of liver disease severity comprising the MAYO-1, MAYO-2, MELD, and Child-Pugh score. The 13 C- MBT differentiated healthy controls from the patients with Ludwig IV and Ludwig III histopathological stages of PBC. The most significant relationships (i.e. explaining >50% of the variance) were found between measurements of the momentary breath 13 C elimination from 6 to 18 minutes as well as the 15-min or 30-min cumulative elimination and the MAYO-1 or MAYO-2 scores. The breath test poorly correlated with histopathological features of PBC, however, it accurately discriminated cirrhotic from non-cirrhotic patients (momentary breath 13 C elimination at 40 min, AUROC 0,958). In conclusion, 13 C-MBT correlates with clinical scoring systems, especially those specifically designed for PBC (Mayo model) and accurately recognizes the disease at the stage of cirrhosis up to 40 minutes of the test duration.