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Updated: Aug 10, 2026

Isolation of Neonatal Extrahepatic Cholangiocytes
Published on: June 5, 2014
[Posthepatic icterus caused by a solitary granular cell tumor of the common bile duct]
T Heuer1, H J Lahrtz, H Gerards
1Kliniken Maria Hilf GmbH, Medizinische Klinik I, Mönchengladbach. Heuert@mariahilf.de
We report a case of a 26-year-old female patient who was referred to our hospital with a painless jaundice. By means of an ERCP we found a nearly complete occlusion of the common bile duct caused by a tumor. After stenting and normalization of the cholestasis parameters, additional investigations such as endosonography, cholangioscopy and MR angiography no longer showed any manifestation of the tumor. The histological and cytological specimens did not confirm a malignant process. As there was apparently only a solitary tumor a resection according to Whipple was performed. The histological examination showed a granular cell tumor. This case report demonstrates that a posthepatic icterus may rarely be caused by a granular cell tumor. Furthermore, it clearly shows the difficulty to correctly diagnose a tumor in the extrahepatic common bile duct as one may often have to rely solely on imaging procedures.
We report a case of a 26-year-old female patient who was referred to our hospital with a painless jaundice. By means of an ERCP we found a nearly complete occlusion of the common bile duct caused by a tumor. After stenting and normalization of the cholestasis parameters, additional investigations such as endosonography, cholangioscopy and MR angiography no longer showed any manifestation of the tumor. The histological and cytological specimens did not confirm a malignant process. As there was apparently only a solitary tumor a resection according to Whipple was performed. The histological examination showed a granular cell tumor. This case report demonstrates that a posthepatic icterus may rarely be caused by a granular cell tumor. Furthermore, it clearly shows the difficulty to correctly diagnose a tumor in the extrahepatic common bile duct as one may often have to rely solely on imaging procedures.
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