Abstract
The authors encountered a rare case of hepatoid adenocarcinoma (HAC) of the gallbladder. A 72-year-old woman was pointed out a mass lesion in the gallbladder, and an ERCP test detected pancreatobiliary maljunction of the bile duct-undilated type. A 6.5×4.5×6.0-cm mass was mainly located at the fundus of the gallbladder. Histologically, the tumor was composed of eosinophilic tumor cells arranged in a sheet, reminiscent of hepatocellular carcinoma. A small portion of the tumor showed differentiated adenocarcinoma. HAC is relatively rare, and has been reported in the stomach and several other organs. So far, only 14 HAC cases (including 2 AFP-producing tumor) involving the gallbladder have been reported in the English literature. HAC of the gallbladder tended to occur in aged patients, and gross features of the tumor were mostly nodular. Among 9 cases who had their preoperative serological AFP checked, 8 showed high values. Here, a case of HAC of the gallbladder associated with pancreatobiliary maljunction is reported, along with a review of previous reports.
