Emergency laparotomy for misdiagnosed biliary cystadenoma originating from caudate lobe
Giovanni Ramacciato1, Giuseppe R Nigri, Francesco D'Angelo
1Hepatobiliary-pancreatic Surgery, University of Rome La Sapienza, II School of Medicine, Sant'Andrea Hospital, Rome, Italy. giovanni.ramacciato@uniroma1.it
Background:
Biliary cystadenoma is a rare benign neoplasm, which is often misdiagnosed for a hepatic abscess or a hydatid cyst that tends to recur and is at risk for progression to malignant neoplasm.
Case Presentation:
This case describes a 30-year-old woman admitted to our institution in an emergency setting. The patient was originally misdiagnosed as affected by a hepatic hydatid cyst at another hospital, and then emergently treated at our Institution for severe abdominal pain. Histologic evaluation of the cyst showed that it was a biliary cystadenoma and, therefore, the patient underwent a hepatic resection in order to completely remove the lesion.
Conclusion:
Complete excision of any suspicious hepatic cystic lesion remains the best method for diagnosis and treatment of cystadenoma. Incomplete excision of most biliary cystadenoma results in a higher rate of recurrence and the risk of malignant transformation. We report this case to elucidate the clinical presentation, preoperative evaluation, and surgical treatment of these rare lesions.
