A Long-Term Survival Case of Mucin-Producing Bile Duct Carcinoma Treated with Repetitive Surgical Procedure

Hiroshi Kurahara, Hiroyuki Shinchi, Yuko Mataki, Shinichi Maeda, Shoji Natsugoe and Sonshin Takao*

Department of Surgical Oncology and Digestive Surgery and Frontier Science Research Center*, Kagoshima University Graduate School

Mucin-producing bile duct tumors are relative rare and poorly characterized. We report a case of long-term survival in mucin-producing bile duct carcinoma treated with repetitive surgery for recrudescence with biliary tract dilation due to hypersecreted mucin. A 67-year-old man admitted for abnormal hepatic function underwent hepatectomy of the medial segment and left caudate lobe under a preoperative diagnosis of a mucin-producing bile duct tumor. Histologically, the tumor was mucin-producing bile duct adenocarcinoma in mucosa that spread superficially. Half a year later, a tumor at the root of the right caudate lobe branch was treated with YAG laser cauterization. Still half a year later, a tumor at the common bile duct was resected. Two years and four months later, a tumor detected at the right hepatic duct, necessitated extrahepatic bile duct resection, and a tumor at the posterior segment branch was treated two months later with YAG laser cauterization. The man has remained asymptomatic and tumor-free in the 7 years since the last treatment. This suggests that strict follow-up and diligently repeated surgery may enable long-term survival.

Key words
mucin producing bile duct tumor, intraductal papillary neoplasm of bile duct, bile duct cancer

Reprint requests
Hiroshi Kurahara Department of Surgical Oncology and Digestive Surgery, Kagoshima University Graduate School
8-35-1 Sakuragaoka, Kagoshima, 890-8520 JAPAN

Accepted
November 19, 2008

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