Multiple bile duct cancers presenting 3 years after resection of early gallbladder cancer: Case report

A 76-year-old woman underwent combined resection of the gallbladder plus partial hepatectomy for early gallbladder cancer. From the pathology results, the surgical treatment was deemed to have been curative. However, 3 years later, the patient was readmitted to the hospital with an elevated carbohydrate antigen (CA) 19-9 level. Percutaneous transhepatic cholangiography demonstrated irregularity of the common hepatic duct and the left intrahepatic bile duct, and percutaneous transhepatic cholangioscopy revealed two separate papillary tumors at these sites. A diagnosis of multiple carcinomas of the bile duct was made and left hepatic lobectomy and resection of the extrahepatic bile duct was performed; reconstruction was carried out with a right hepatico-jejunostomy with Roux-en-Y anastomosis. Microscopic study revealed that both of the lesions were papillary adenocarcinomas, and normal biliary mucosa was confirmed to exist between them.