[Diagnosis and treatment of intrahepatic biliary cystadenocarcinoma-a report of 11 cases].

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE: Intrahepatic biliary cystadenocarcinoma (IBC) is a rare intrahepatic malignant tumor which is scarcely reported, and there is relatively little experience in the diagnosis and treatment. This study was to analyze the clinicopathologic features, diagnosis, and treatment of IBC.

METHODS

Clinical data of 11 patients with pathologically confirmed papillary IBC, treated between Mar. 1999 and Oct. 2006 with surgical operation in West China Hospital, were analyzed retrospectively. Of the 11 patients, 2 were men and 9 were women, with a median age of 54 (range 45-68).

RESULTS

The chief complaints of the IBC patients were pain and distention in the epigastrium. Four cases were determined by immunohistochemistry, and showed cytokeratin 7 (CK7) expression. Four patients showed infiltration of carcinoma cells in the surrounding liver tissues; 3 of them received palliative hepatectomy and 1 received radical excision; they survived for 12-23 months. The rest 7 showed carcinoma cells confined to the cyst wall, and received radical excision; 3 of them survived for over 3 years; of the rest 4 patients, 1 received operation again 10 months later because of tumor recurrence and was still alive 14 months after the second operation, 1 suffered from intrahepatic multi-metastasis 12 months after operation and received expectant treatment, 1 suffered from ascites 15 month after operation and died without further treatment, 1 was lost during follow-up.

CONCLUSIONS

IBC occurs mainly in elder women, and its malignant degree is lower than that of solid carcinoma. The prognosis of the patients with IBC confined to the cyst wall after complete tumor removal is better than that of the patients with IBC infiltrated into the liver.