Case Report
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2018. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Feb 21, 2018; 24(7): 870-875
Published online Feb 21, 2018. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v24.i7.870
Esophageal metastasis of stem cell-subtype hepatocholangiocarcinoma: Rare presentation of a rare tumor
Maëva Salimon, Nicolas Chapelle, Tamara Matysiak-Budnik, Jean-François Mosnier, Eric Frampas, Yann Touchefeu
Maëva Salimon, Nicolas Chapelle, Tamara Matysiak-Budnik, Yann Touchefeu, Institut des Maladies de l’Appareil Digestif, Nantes University Hospital, Nantes 44000, France
Jean-François Mosnier, Department of Pathology, Nantes University Hospital, Nantes 44000, France
Eric Frampas, Department of Radiology, Nantes University Hospital, Nantes 44000, France
Author contributions: Salimon M and Touchefeu Y designed the research; Salimon M, Chapelle N, Mosnier JF and Frampas E performed the research; Salimon M, Matysiak-Budnik T and Touchefeu Y wrote the paper.
Informed consent statement: This is a non-interventional report; the patient died before the writing of the report. The report is in accordance of the Declaration of Helsinki and its latter amendments.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Yann Touchefeu, MD, PhD, Doctor, Institut des Maladies de l’Appareil Digestif, Nantes University Hospital, 1 Place Alexis Ricordeau, Nantes 44000, France. yann.touchefeu@chu-nantes.fr
Telephone: +33-240-083152 Fax: +33-240-083154
Received: December 12, 2017
Peer-review started: December 12, 2017
First decision: December 27, 2017
Revised: January 2, 2018
Accepted: January 16, 2018
Article in press: January 16, 2018
Published online: February 21, 2018
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Case characteristics

A 55-year-old cirrhotic male patient was admitted for dysphagia.

Clinical diagnosis

Elective dysphagia for solids associated with an alteration in general status and a weight loss of 14 kg.

Differential diagnosis

Primary esophageal cancer.

Laboratory diagnosis

Normal renal and hepatic functions. Normal carbohydrate antigen 19-9, carcinoembryonic antigen and alpha fetoprotein.

Imaging diagnosis

Thoraco-abdomino-pelvic computed tomography and abdominal magnetic resonance imaging scans were performed and revealed hepatic lesions combining imaging features of both hepatocellular carcinoma, and intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma.

Pathological diagnosis

Stem cell-subtype hepatocholangiocarcinoma.

Treatment

Chemotherapy: gemcitabine - cisplatin.

Term explanation

Hepatocholangiocarcinoma is a primary hepatic tumor representing less than 5% of all hepatic tumors. This is the first report of an esophageal metastasis of a hepatocholangiocarcinoma.

Experiences and lessons

The diagnosis of hepatocholangiocarcinoma is challenging. The addition of non-HCC features in the radiologic assessment could improve the diagnostic accuracy.