Primary Combined Hepatocellular-Cholangiocarcinoma: A Case of Underdiagnosed Primary Liver Cancer

A Typical Case of an Atypical Disease: Klatskin Tumor

Cholangiocarcinoma is a rare type of cancer disorder. The case report is of a 55-years-old male patient who came to the output patient department (OPD) with complaints of abdominal pain and weight loss for 15 days and later was diagnosed with Klatskin tumor after mandatory investigations. After the approval of the tumor board committee, he is under chemotherapy, to which he is responding positively. Klatskin tumor is a type of cholangiocarcinoma occurring at the convergence of the right and left lobes of hepatic bile ducts, forming the common bile duct. The source of cholangiocarcinoma is idiopathic, and most cholangiocarcinoma is treated with the help of either surgical resection or chemotherapy. Surgical resection is performed in initial cases, but most patients present with the advanced stage of Klatskin tumor. CA-19-9 is a tumor marker that indicates the presence of a Klatskin tumor.

Combined Hepatocellular-Cholangiocarcinoma: What the Multidisciplinary Team Should Know

Combined hepatocellular-cholangiocarcinoma (cHCC-CCA) is a rare type of primary liver malignancy. Among the risk factors, hepatitis B and hepatitis C virus infections, cirrhosis, and male gender are widely reported. The clinical appearance of cHCC-CCA is similar to that of HCC and iCCA and it is usually silent until advanced states, causing a delay of diagnosis. Diagnosis is mainly based on histology from biopsies or surgical specimens. Correct pre-surgical diagnosis during imaging studies is very problematic and is due to the heterogeneous characteristics of the lesion in imaging, with overlapping features of HCC and CCA. The predominant histological subtype within the lesion establishes the predominant imaging findings. Therefore, in this scenario, the radiological findings characteristic of HCC show an overlap with those of CCA. Since cHCC-CCAs are prevalent in patients at high risk of HCC and there is a risk that these may mimic HCC, it is currently difficult to see a non-invasive diagnosis of HCC. Surgery is the only curative treatment of HCC-CCA. The role of liver transplantation (LT) in the treatment of cHCC-CCA remains controversial, as is the role of ablative or systemic therapies in the treatment of this tumour. These lesions still remain challenging, both in diagnosis and in the treatment phase. Therefore, a pre-treatment imaging diagnosis is essential, as well as the identification of prognostic factors that could stratify the risk of recurrence and the most adequate therapy according to patient characteristics.