Abstract
A 56-year-old woman was referred to the hospital for abnormally elevated blood CA19-9, which was pointed out by another hospital to where she was seen because of upper abdominal pain. On admission to the hospital, CA19-9 value was as high as 5800 U/ml, gallbladder stones were observed by ultrasonography, and a compression/extension picture of the cystic artery was disclosed by abdominal angiography. ERC failed to visualize the gallbladder, whereas PTCC showed filling defects due to the stones. The patient was suspected to have a gallbladder cancer and was operated on.
The gallbladder neck revealed incarcerations of cholesterol class stones, the body also included 11 stones, and the gallbladder wall was thickened. No malignant findings were observed histologically, therefore, the patient was diagnosed as chronic cholecystitis. Infilammation of the gallbladder extended to the liver. Even benign biliary diseases can be often associated with slightly increased CA19-9, but few show such an abnormally high value as the present case. The authors report this case together with a review of the literature.
