Case of bile duct carcinoma of the hepatic hilus with segmental obstructive cholangitis

Cholangitis is a risk factor for posthepatectomy liver failure and therefore should be treated aggressively by urgent biliary drainage before definitive liver surgery for bile duct carcinoma. We present a case of bile duct carcinoma of the hepatic hilus with segmental cholangitis. The patient was a 38-year-old man. Percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage (PTBD) was performed in the left anterior, right anterior, and right posterior segmental ducts to alleviate jaundice and to evaluate the biliary system. One month after PTBD, the patient developed high fever with leukocytosis, suggesting the onset of segmental cholangitis. An urgent repeat PTBD was carried out at the caudate and left medial segmental bile ducts. The bile juice was purulent, and the tube cholangiogram revealed miliary abscesses. After PTBD, cholangitis was subsided, and extended left hepatic lobectomy with caudate lobectomy was performed. The postoperative recovery was uneventful and the patient has been well for 13 months. We conclude that the onset of fever in patients with hilar bile duct cancer, PTBD catheters, and undrained biliary segments suggests the presence of segmental cholangitis.