Acute fulminant lactic acidosis complicating metastatic cholangiocarcinoma

A patient with cholangiocarcinoma, metastatic to the liver and lungs, developed acute fulminant lactic acidosis in the absence of overt hepatic failure, sepsis, hypoxia, or circulatory failure. Despite extensive tumor replacement of hepatic parenchyma, no acid-base disorder was present during initial evaluation. The onset of acute lactic acidosis was temporally associated with the development of otherwise asymptomatic episodes of intermittent atrial arrhythmias. Once established, lactic acidosis was inexorably progressive, despite resolution of arrhythmias. Extensive areas of acute necrosis within the large hepatic metastases were demonstrated on postmortem examination, suggesting that local tissue ischemia, precipitated by cardiac arrhythmias, lead to excessive lactic acid production.