Peripheral cholangiocarcinoma: sonographic evaluation

One hundred and seven patients who had intrahepatic tumor that demonstrated by sonography, and proved histologically, to be cholangiocarcinoma (CC), were reviewed retrospectively. Two main tumor patterns were found, namely the nodular form (N = 101) and the infiltrative form (N = 6); 33 of 101 patients with nodular lesions had solitary masses and 18 had multiple masses. The echogenicity of primary tumors were hyperechoic (N = 56), hypoechoic (N = 15), isoechoic (N = 10), and mixed-echoic (N = 20). A peripheral hypoechoic rim was present in 35 primary tumors (34.7%). Peripheral bile duct dilatation was seen in 33 patients (30.8%). Extrahepatic extension was found at operation in 46 of 52 patients (88.5%), while it was demonstrable by ultrasonography in only 16 (30.8%). Five of 6 small lesions (3 cm and less) already had an extrahepatic extension.