A case of gallbladder carcinoma producing both α-fetoprotein (AFP) and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) with large metastatic lesions in liver and bone

Abstract

A 65-year-old man had suffered from abdominal fullness and a gluteal and femoral pain on the left side. On imaging diagnosis, we found gallbladder with irregular wall and a stone, metastatic multiple liver tumors and a big pelvic tumor. Serum AFP and CEA were 6200ng/ml and 204ng/ml, respectively. The diagnosis of primary origin wasn't made in his life.
A summary of autopsy findings is as follows: 1) The papillary adenocarcinoma was found in gallbladder. 2) Histologically the gallbladder tumor was mixed well and poorly differenciated adenocarcinoma. 3) The histology of the hepatic and pelvic tumors are very similar to the component of poorly differenciated adenocarcinoma of gallbladder. And then, hepatic and pelvic tumors are regarded as metastatic tumors of gallbladder carcinoma. On pathologic examination, both AFP and CEA stains weren't located in the tumors of gallbladder, liver and pelvis and the tissues around each tumor.