Autoimmune hepatitis (AIH), primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) and primary sclerotic cholangitis (PSC) form the triad of autoimmune liver diseases. However, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) development in AIH as well as in PBC is a rare event. The common clinical features of HCC associated with AIH and PBC have not yet been extensively described.
A research team led by Dr. Takuya Watanabe from Japan addresses this question and their study will be published on January 14, 2009 in the World Journal of Gastroenterology.
A systematic review of the literature was conducted using the Japana Centra Revuo Medicina database. Then they compared the clinical features of these two sets of patients with the general Japanese HCC population. They found that HCC cases with AIH and PBC have four clinical features. That is: (1) HCC was more common in men than in women with AIH or PBC; (2) Many patients underwent chemolipiodolization (CL) or transcatheter arterial embolization (TAE); (3) Liver failure was the primary cause of death among patients in this study, followed by tumor rupture. (4) The survival interval between diagnosis and death was fairly short.
Although this study was retrospective, it is the first to date that highlights the common clinical features in HCC cases with AIH and PBC.