The morphological spectrum of peripheral intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma — An attempt at histological classification on twenty-eight autopsy cases

Abstract

From 91,725 autopsies, 28 cases of peripheral intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma were selected to study the wide spectrum of histopathology of the tumor. The results showed that two cases (7.14 %) had predominantly solid type. One case had pure, and six had predominant cordai type (25%). Four showed pure, another four showed predominant ductal type (28.57%). Six (21.43%) revealed glandular pattern, one of which consisted of this pure component. Fapillary type was present in three cases (10.71 %) with two entirely made of this conformation. One case (3.57%) was classified as adenosquamous type and another one (3.57%) fell into the undifferentiated category. No obvious correlations between histological subtypes and underlying liver disease, stroma reaction or biological behaviour have been found. The significance of the classification in the tumor diagnosis and differential diagnosis, as well as possible mechanisms of carcinogenesis in these patients are discussed.

Keywords

pathology / peripheral cholangiocarcinoma / histological classification