Recurrent liver tumor with intrabiliary ductal growth after hepatectomy for metastatic rectal cancer: Case report

A case of recurrent tumor with intrabiliary ductal growth after hepatic resection for liver metastasis from rectal cancer is presented. The patient, a 55-year-old female, underwent subsegmentectomy of the anteroinferior and posteroinferior areas of the liver for metastatic liver cancer on August 29, 1988. Computed tomography in February 1990 showed dilatation of the intrahepatic bile duct in the right anterosuperior subsegment (B8), in which a filling defect was detected by cholangiography through a percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage (PTBD) catheter. Percutaneous transhepatic cholangioscopy (PTCS) revealed a protruding lesion without tumor vessels. Cholangioscopic biopsy revealed dysplasia, but not adenocarcinoma. However, recurrent tumor originating in the resected margin of the remnant liver was suspected, and resection of the right lobe of the liver and partial resection of the duodenum were therefore performed. The resected specimen showed a tumor, 4 cm in diameter, in the previous resected margin, forming a protruding lesion with a rough surface (measuring 10×20 mm) in the B8 bile duct. This case suggested the possibility of cancer recurrence in the resected margin of the liver after hepatectomy for metastatic colorectal cancer, with intrabiliary ductal tumor growth showing segmental biliary dilatation.