[HCG-producing intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma].

The serum level of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) in a 60-year-old man with intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma was found to be abnormal (44.6 mIU/ml) at the diagnosis. The patient underwent right hemihepatectomy, and the high serum hCG returned to normal 28 days postoperatively. Six months after the operation, the cholangiocarcinoma recurred in the remnant liver and the hCG level was again elevated to 268 mIU/ml. The patient died of liver failure eight months after the operation. Immunohistochemical studies of the resected tumor showed hCG-positive cells in the cancer nest. In this case, it is (believed) that the intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma produced hCG and secreted it to the serum.