Cholangiocarcinoma arising in Von Meyenburg complex associated with hepatocellular carcinoma in genetic haemochromatosis

Eur J Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2000 Feb;12(2):233-7. doi: 10.1097/00042737-200012020-00016.

Abstract

A 61-year-old man had a liver resection for a bilobar mass thought to be, by imaging techniques, an hepatocellular carcinoma. He had been treated for the last 12 years by venesections for genetic haemochromatosis complicated by well-compensated cirrhosis. At surgery, prothrombin time and platelet count were normal, as was alpha-fetoprotein. On the resected specimen, the non-tumoral liver was not cirrhotic; septal fibrosis was present as well as mild iron overload and numerous Von Meyenburg complexes. The bilobar tumour was composed of two different parts: one was a cholangiocarcinoma arising from Von Meyenburg complexes, the other was a moderately differentiated hepatocellular carcinoma with a partially invaded capsule. The two tumours, in close proximity, did not communicate. This observation raises three questions: the relative risk of primary liver cancer including both hepatocellular carcinoma and cholangiocarcinoma in haemochromatosis without cirrhosis; the development of cholangiocarcinoma from Von Meyenburg complexes; the reversibility of cirrhosis in treated patients.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / diagnosis*
  • Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / pathology
  • Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / surgery
  • Cholangiocarcinoma / diagnosis*
  • Cholangiocarcinoma / pathology
  • Cholangiocarcinoma / surgery
  • Diagnosis, Differential
  • Hemochromatosis / complications*
  • Hemochromatosis / genetics
  • Humans
  • Liver Neoplasms / diagnosis*
  • Liver Neoplasms / pathology
  • Liver Neoplasms / surgery
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Neoplasms, Second Primary / diagnosis*
  • Neoplasms, Second Primary / pathology
  • Neoplasms, Second Primary / surgery