Three synchronous carcinomas of the papilla of Vater, common bile duct and pancreas.

Multiple carcinomas of the pancreatico-biliary tree are rare. A 53 year old Japanese man was diagnosed as having an adenocarcinoma in the papilla of Vater. During the operation, he was also found to have a polypoid mass in the common bile duct. While cutting the operative specimen into stepwise sections, a small tumor was also detected incidentally in the main pancreatic duct of the pancreatic head. Histologically, all three tumors proved to be papillary adenocarcinomas and were restricted to the mucosa. Immunohistochemically, all three tumors were positive for carcinoembryonic antigen, carbohydrate antigen 19-9, chromogranin A and serotonin, while they were negative for somatostatin. Immunoreactivity to the tumor suppressor gene p53 protein (PAb 1801) was found in all three tumors. A flow cytometric analysis of the cellular DNA content revealed all three tumors to be aneuploid. The above results suggested that these three tumors from different sites all had the same histological, immunohistochemical and flow cytometrical characteristics.