Xanthogranulomatous cholecystitis mimicking stage IV gallbladder cancer

Patients with xanthogranulomatous cholecystitis often undergo excessive surgical resections because of difficulty in distinguishing their condition from gallbladder cancer. Herein we present a patient with xanthogranulomatous cholecystitis mimicking stage IVA gallbladder cancer who underwent a hepatopancreatoduodenectomy. The 64-year-old man was admitted to the local hospital with a chief complaint of high fever, hypochondrolgia and jaundice. One month later, he transferred to Tsukuba University Hospital with a hard palpable fixed large tumor in the right hypochondrium. Computed tomography and ultrasonography showed a tumor originating from the gallbladder extending to the adjacent liver parenchyma, as well as nodes in the hepatoduodenal ligaments approaching the head of the pancreas. Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography failed to exhibit the gallbladder despite the visualization of irregular narrowing of the common hepatic duct. Angiography demonstrated encasement of the right hepatic artery and narrowing of the right portal vein. On the other hand, the level of serum carbohydrate antigen 19-9 was within normal range. Based on those findings, a right hepatic lobectomy with pancreaticoduodenectomy was conducted under the preoperative and intraoperative diagnosis of gallbladder cancer; stage IVA. The gross findings of the surgical specimen showed an ill-defined yellowish hard mass, but microscopic examination demonstrated xanthogranulomatous cholecystitis. The presented case shows that xanthogranulomatous cholecystitis can mimic an advanced gallbladder carcinoma when the severe chronic inflammatory changes have extended to the liver hilum down to the head of the pancreas. However, the normal level of tumor markers in all clinical courses might be a reason to consider xanthogranulomatous cholecystitis instead of gallbladder cancer. Even when the correct diagnosis is made, the possibility that the adjacent organs should be resected is not remote.