1986 Volume 28 Issue 6 Pages 1309-1315
So-called early carcinoma of the bile ducts is rarely detected in Japan. Furthermore, there are no reports describing early carcinoma of the bile duct associated with ulcerative colitis. We report here a case 3f early carcinoma in the common bile duct associated with ulcerative colitis. A 47-year-old feamale visited our hospital for fever and diarrhea. Based on a barium enema examination and colonofiberscopy, a diagnosis of ulcerative colitis was made. Five months after hospitalization, the patient began to complain of pain in the right hypochon-drium accompanied with high serum level of γ-GTP. Endoscopic retrograde cholangiogra-phy (ERC) was performed. ERC demonstrated a small elevated lesion in the common bile duct and cytologic examination of bile revealed adenocarcinoma cells. The operation for the carcinoma of the common bile duct was performed. Because the tumor was localized within the wall of the common bile duct, a diagnosis of so-called early carcinoma in the common bile duct was made. In order to detect early carcinoma in the bile ducts, we should perform ERC examina-tion before the developement of jaundice, paying attention to the subjective symptom and high serum level of enzymes derived from the biliary system.
