Abstract
A small-cell carcinoma of the extrahepatic bile duct in a 69-year-old woman is herein reported. A tumor measuring approximately 3 cm in diameter was located at the confluence of the common bile duct, cystic duct, and common hepatic duct. Histopathologically, the tumor was small-cell neuroendocrine carcinoma without any gland formation or differentiation to squamous cell carcinoma. Tumor cells were immunoreactive for epithelial markers such as epithelial membrane antigen and cytokeratin and for the neuroendocrine markers such as neuron-specific enolase, chromogranin A, and synaptophysin. Although the carcinomas in more than half of the reported cases have been reported to be associated with well-to-moderately differentiated squamous or glandular components, seven cases, including our case, showed the carcinomas without squamous or glandular components. According to the review of 16 previously reported cases and our case of small-cell carcinoma of the extrahepatic bile ducts, there is no significant difference in the clinicopathological findings, namely, age, sex, site of carcinoma, and prognosis between the cases with or without squamous or glandular components. No CD34-positive multipotent adult progenitor cells, which might be the origin of the small-cell carcinoma, were detected in the bile duct epithelium in our case.
![](http://media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs12072-007-9027-0/MediaObjects/12072_2007_9027_Fig1_HTML.jpg)
![](http://media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs12072-007-9027-0/MediaObjects/12072_2007_9027_Fig2_HTML.jpg)
![](http://media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs12072-007-9027-0/MediaObjects/12072_2007_9027_Fig3_HTML.jpg)
References
Nishihara K, Tsuneyoshi M, Niiyama H, et al. Composite glandular-endocrine cell carcinoma of the extrahepatic bile duct: immunohistochemical study. Pathology 1993;25:90–4
Sabanathan S, Hashimi H, Nicholson G, et al. Primary oat cell carcinoma of the common bile duct. JR Coll Surg Edinb 1988;33:285–6
Van der Wal AC, Van Leeuwen DJ, Walford N. Small cell neuroendocrine (oat cell) tumour of the common bile duct. Histopathology 1990;16:398–400
Miyashita T, Konishi K, Noto M, et al. A case of small cell carcinoma of the common bile duct. Nippon Shokakibyou Gakkai Zasshi (Jpn J Gastroenterol) 2001;98:1195–8 (In Japanese)
Kuraoka K, Taniyam K, Fujitaka T, et al. Small cell carcinoma of the extrahepatic bile duct: case report and immunohistochemical analysis. Pathol Int 2003;53:887–91
Kaiho T, Tanaka T, Tsuchiya S, et al. A case of small cell carcinoma of the common bile duct. Hepatogastroenterology 2005;52:363–7
Albores-Saavedra J, Molberg K, Henson DE. Unusual malignant epithelial tumors of the gallbladder. Semin Diagn Pathol 1996;13:326–38
Nishihara K, Tsuneyoshi M. Small cell carcinoma of the gallbladder. A clinicopathological immunohistochemical and flow cytometrical study of 15 cases. Int J Oncol 1993;3:901–8
Fish DE, Al-lzzi M, George PP, et al. Combined endocrine cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma of the gallbladder. Histopathology 1990;17:471–2
Jiang Y, Jahagirdar BN, Reinhardt RL, et al. Pluripotency of mesenchymal stem cells derived from adult marrow. Nature 2002;418:41–9
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hosonuma, K., Sato, K., Honma, M. et al. Small-cell carcinoma of the extrahepatic bile duct: a case report and review of the literature. Hepatol Int 2, 129–132 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12072-007-9027-0
Received:
Revised:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12072-007-9027-0