Imaging and Blood Tests Provide Clues on Tumor Malignancies Causing Stricture of Bile Duct

The benign biliary tract tumor is rarely found in clinical practice. A new report has cited studies on how to differentiate it pre-operatively, and may be helpful to surgeons and beneficial to patients.

One case of bile duct adenomyoma was recently reported in the January 28, 2008, issue of the World Journal of Gastroenterology. The article described a patient who presented to Dr. Gui-Ming Shu, from the Tianjin Third Central Hospital, affiliated to Tianjin Medical University (Tianjin, China) in 2005. The patient presented with yellow skin and sclera, and complained of itching for two months. He suffered from anorexia and occasional nausea. Tea-colored urine, yellowish white feces, and weight loss of 2.5 kg were found. Nothing out of the ordinary was found in the physical examination except the yellowish skin and sclera.

Computerized tomography (CT), magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP), ultrasonography, and blood biochemistry examinations were performed, presenting a suspected tumor of the distal bile duct. Later, the patient was treated successfully by pancreaticoduodenectomy.

Histologically, the tumor was an adenomyoma, a seldom-found benign disease of the bile duct. The patient has been well without any evidence of recurrence for 12 months since his operation.


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