A Case Report of Minute Peripheral Cholangiocellular Carcinoma Associated with HCV Antibody-positive Liver Cirrhosis

Kiyotaka Kurachi, Takamasa Nagashima, Yasunobu Mizukami, Koji Ikuta, Eiji Chikamatsu, Shuusaku Ohira

Department of Surgery, Enshu General Hospital

A 67-year-old man was admitted to our hospital because of liver dysfunction. We diagnosed his condition as HCV antibody-positive liver cirrhosis. Ultrasonography revealed an oval shape, isohypoechoic nodular mass measuring 20 mm in the right posterior segment of the liver. A plain CT scan revealed a low density area. This tumor was homogeneously enhanced with an irregular border. Celiac arteriography revealed a tumor stain in the posterior-superior segment in the arterial phase. By ultrasound-guided fine-needle biopsy, we obtained a histological specimen of cholangiocellular carcinoma (CCC). Partial hepatectomy of S6 was performed. The cut surface of the resected tumor showed a milk-whitish nodular type tumor 15×20 mm in size. The histopathological diagnosis was a moderatly differentiated tubular adenocarcinoma. The liver except for the tumor showed liver cirrhosis. His postoperative course has been good without recurrence for 16 months after discharge. It is difficult to find a CCC in the early stage because it has no typical symptoms or specific sings earlier. Only 16 cases of minute peripheral CCC have been reported in the Japanese literure up to now. There were no previous reports of minute peripheral CCC associated with HCV antibody-positive liver cirrhosis.

Key words
minute (small) cholangiocellular carcinoma, HCV-positive liver cirrhosis, intrahepatic bile duct carcinoma

Reprint requests
Kiyotaka Kurachi Department of Surgery, Enshu General Hospital
144-6 Tokiwa, Hamamatsu, 430-0917 JAPAN

Accepted
January 14, 1998

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