Cholangiocarcinoma is a primary biliary tract tumor arising from the bile duct epithelium. Classically, these tumors have been categorized according to their anatomic location as intrahepatic and extrahepatic. Hilar cholangiocarcinoma is the most common type of extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma. It is the most difficult cancer to diagnose and therefore carries a poor prognosis with a 5-year survivalrate of less than 10%. Diagnostic imaging, coupled with a high degree of clinical suspicion, play a critical role in timely diagnosis, staging, and evaluation for surgical resectability. The most common imagingmodalities used for diagnosis and staging of hilar cholangiocarcinoma include ultrasound (US), computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging/magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography(MRI/MRCP). This article showed a case presentation and reviewed the imaging appearance of hilar cholangiocarcinoma.
Figure 1 Greyscale sonography at the level of hepatic hilum revealed an ill-defined hilar mass (asterisk)resulting in upstream dilatation of right (arrow) and left (arrow head) main intrahepatic duct.
Endoscopic drainage in patients with inoperable hilar cholangiocarcinoma
