Development of bile duct cancer in a 26-year-old man after resection of infantile choledochal cyst

Abstract

Anomalous arrangement of the pancreaticobiliary duct is considered to be a high-risk factor for biliary tract malignancy. We report a case of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma in a 26-year-old man after total resection of choledochal cyst with anomalous arrangement of the pancreaticobiliary duct at the age of 5 months. He had been doing well after total resection of the choledochal cyst; however, he suddenly presented with a spiky fever and abdominal pain in the right upper quadrant at the age of 26 years. Computed tomographic scan and percutaneous transhepatic cholangioscope revealed multiple stones and stenosis of the hepatic duct and the left intrahepatic bile duct. Histologic examination of a biopsy specimen obtained from the stenotic site showed adenocarcinoma of the intrahepatic bile duct. Left lobectomy with re-reconstruction by right hepaticojejunostomy was performed, and his postoperative course was uneventful. One year after the operation, however, he died of carcinomatous peritonitis with recurrence of cholangiocarcinoma. This report warns us that bile stasis owing to stenosis of the intrahepatic bile duct and repeated cholangitis with multiple stones are high-risk factors for carcinogenesis of the intrahepatic bile duct even after total resection of the infantile choledochal cyst.