Purpose of Review
The association between extrahepatic malignancy and primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) has been studied only partially. The goal of this paper is to update this topic, reviewing the most recent literature.
Recent Findings
Studies comparing the incidence of cancer with the general population and meta-analysis studies failed to find a specific association between extrahepatic malignancy (including breast cancer, gastrointestinal cancers, reproductive tumors, and myeloproliferative diseases) and PBC. Moreover, it has been found that the development of cancer does not influence the natural history of the disease. The risk factors associated with cancer development are advanced histological stage and extrahepatic autoimmunity.
Summary
Cancer screening programs for PBC patients are not needed other than those already present for the general population. However, more high-quality case-control studies on the stratification of risk for extrahepatic cancers in PBC are warranted in the future.