Case Report
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Apr 21, 2015; 21(15): 4765-4769
Published online Apr 21, 2015. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v21.i15.4765
Cholecystocolic fistula caused by gallbladder carcinoma: Preoperatively misdiagnosed as hepatic colon carcinoma
Gi Won Ha, Min Ro Lee, Jong Hun Kim
Gi Won Ha, Min Ro Lee, Jong Hun Kim, Research Institute of Clinical Medicine, Chonbuk National University Medical School, Jeonbuk 561-180, South Korea
Author contributions: Lee MR performed the operation; Ha GW collected case data; Ha GW wrote the manuscript; Lee MR and Kim JH proofread and revised the manuscript; all authors approved the version to be published.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Min Ro Lee, MD, PhD, Research Institute of Clinical Medicine, Chonbuk National University Medical School, San 2-20 Geumam-dong, Deokjin-gu, Jeonju, Jeonbuk 561-180, South Korea. gsminro@jbnu.ac.kr
Telephone: +82-63-2501570 Fax: +82-63-2716197
Received: September 9, 2014
Peer-review started: September 10, 2014
First decision: October 14, 2014
Revised: October 29, 2014
Accepted: November 11, 2014
Article in press: November 11, 2014
Published online: April 21, 2015
Processing time: 222 Days and 24 Hours
Abstract

Cholecystocolic fistula secondary to gallbladder carcinoma is extremely rare and has been reported in very few studies. Most cholecystocolic fistulae are late complications of gallstone disease, but can also develop following carcinoma of the gallbladder when the necrotic tumor penetrates into the adjacent colon. Although no currently available imaging technique has shown great accuracy in recognizing cholecystocolic fistula, abdominopelvic computed tomography may show fistulous communication and anatomical details. Herein we report an unusual case of cholecystocolic fistula caused by gallbladder carcinoma, which was preoperatively misdiagnosed as hepatic flexure colon carcinoma.

Keywords: Cholecystocolic fistula; Gallbladder carcinoma; Misdiagnosed; Hepatic colon carcinoma; Abdominopelvic computed tomography

Core tip: Cholecystocolic fistula is rare and difficult to diagnose preoperatively. In our report, we preoperatively misdiagnosed our patient as having hepatic flexure colon cancer with adhesion to the gallbladder. The patient was diagnosed with gallbladder carcinoma intraoperatively along with a cholecystocolic fistula secondary to invasion of the colon by the mass. A postoperative review of the preoperative abdominopelvic computed tomography (CT) also resulted in the identification of the cholecystocolic fistula. Abdominopelvic CT may be helpful in the preoperative diagnosis of this condition.