Multiple hilar cysts of the liver in patients with alcoholic cirrhosis: Report of three cases

The present report concerns the clinicopathological study of three patients with alcoholic cirrhosis (a 40-year-old man, a 52-year-old woman and a 48-year-old man) who had multiple cysts along their intrahepatic bile ducts. The cysts were visible on gross examination of the liver and, in two cases, an enlargement of the cysts had been detected in abdominal computed tomography scans performed 1 year apart. Histologically, the cysts consisted of proliferating and dilated peribiliary glands. The cysts occasionally compressed the original bile ducts. The latter showed mucosal hyperplasia with antral-type gland metaplasia. Neoplastic changes and necroinflammation were not seen. Immuno-histochemical assays revealed that the peribiliary glands and antral-type glands expressed not only cytokeratin and carbohydrate antigen 19-9, but also c-MET protein, the hepatocyte growth factor receptor which may be related, at least in part, to the cystic dilatation of the peribiliary glands.