Atypical mycobacterial infection mimicking metastatic cholangiocarcinoma

Harsh A Kanhere; Markus I Trochsler; John Pierides; Guy J Maddern

doi:10.1093/jscr/rjt038

Atypical mycobacterial infection mimicking metastatic cholangiocarcinoma

J Surg Case Rep. 2013 Jun 26;2013(6):rjt038. doi: 10.1093/jscr/rjt038.

Authors

Harsh A Kanhere¹, Markus I Trochsler², John Pierides³, Guy J Maddern²

Affiliations

¹ Division of Surgery, The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia kanhere.harsh@health.sa.gov.au.
² Division of Surgery, The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia.
³ Department of Surgical Pathology, Institute of Medical and Veterinary Sciences, The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Adelaide, SA, Australia.

Abstract

Mycobacterial infections are rare in developed countries. Isolated involvement of the liver and biliary tree by mycobacterial infection is extremely rare. We report a case of a 45-year-old Caucasian female presenting with obstructive jaundice with a common bile duct stricture and multiple hypodense liver lesions raising suspicion of a metastatic cholangiocarcinoma. Percutaneous core biopsies of the liver lesions however suggested granulomatous process and histology at surgical excision confirmed this finding. Atypical mycobacteria (M. abcessus) sensitive to Amikacin were cultured from the surgical specimen proving the diagnosis. With the resurgence of tubercular and atypical mycobacterial infections in the developed world, it is important not to overlook these in differential diagnosis of various malignancies.

Publication types

Case Reports