Metastasis of missed cholangiocarcinoma in the left lobethrough abdominal wall laparoscopic port-site and umbilicus after laparoscopic cholecystectomy: case report and literature review

Introduction: Laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) has been widely used by surgeons. However, a serious but rare condition may be happened, which is the missed diagnosis of intraperitoneal malignant tumor. If the malignancy exists, the changes of the abdominal environment or the laparoscopic operation might brought the cancer cells to the abdominal cavity or the abdominal wall. The missed laparoscopic malignant tumors are prone to metastasis, especially at the laparoscopic port-site. More extreme condition will be located in the navel, which is known as Sister Mary Joseph’s nodule(SMJN).Case presentation: A 63-year-old female who had undergone cholecystectomy and choledocholithotomy ten months ago was hospitalized for upper abdominal pain. Laboratory examination indicated that the most of tumor markers were increased. CT scan revealed that there was a diffused irregular and progressively enhanced mass around the left lobe bile duct, multiple enlarged lymph nodes in the abdominal cavity and multiple nodular lesions were found under the costal margin of the right upper abdominal wall, right lower abdominal wall and the umbilicus. Biopsy of the nodules under the original surgical scar showed an infiltrative or metastatic middle differentiated adenocarcinoma. So the diagnosis was left lobe cholangiocarcinoma of the liver, multiple lymph nodes metastasis in the abdominal cavity and multiple implant metastasis in abdominal wall laparoscopic port-site and umbilical.Conclusion: In laparoscopic cholecystectomy, surgeons should not only focus on the local lesions, like gallstone in biliary system, but also look around other the tissues and organs to avoid missing the abdominal malignant tumor or other lesions. When atypical symptoms or abnormalities have been found pre-operation, all abdominal organs should be evaluated in detail to avoid missed diagnosis of potential malignant tumors. On the other hand, when there is a nodule in the umbilicus, all the organs and tissues in abdomen should be examined to find the potential malignant tumor. Finally, multiple cholelithiasis in the left lobe of the liver should be regarded as a high risk factor for cholangiocarcinoma.