Case Report
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2020. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. May 6, 2020; 8(9): 1745-1751
Published online May 6, 2020. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v8.i9.1745
Portal hypertension in a patient with biliary hamartomas: A case report
Qian-Qian Li, Xiao-Zhong Guo, Hong-Yu Li, Xing-Shun Qi
Qian-Qian Li, Xiao-Zhong Guo, Hong-Yu Li, Xing-Shun Qi, Department of Gastroenterology, General Hospital of Northern Theater Command, Shenyang 110840, Liaoning Province, China
Qian-Qian Li, Postgraduate College, Dalian Medical University, Dalian 116044, Liaoning Province, China
Author contributions: Li QQ reviewed and searched the literature, analyzed and interpreted the imaging findings, and drafted the manuscript; Guo XZ and Li HY gave critical comments; Qi XS conceived the work, reviewed and searched the literature, interpreted the imaging findings, and revised the manuscript.
Informed consent statement: Written informed consent was obtained from the patient for publication of this case report.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read the CARE Checklist (2016), and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CARE Checklist (2016).
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (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/
Corresponding author: Xing-Shun Qi, MD, PhD, vice chief physician, Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Gastroenterology, General Hospital of Northern Theater Command, No. 83 Wenhua Road, Shenyang 110840, Liaoning Province, China. xingshunqi@126.com
Received: January 14, 2020
Peer-review started: January 14, 2020
First decision: February 26, 2020
Revised: March 26, 2020
Accepted: April 17, 2020
Article in press: April 17, 2020
Published online: May 6, 2020
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Biliary hamartomas (BH) are a rare benign disease caused by malformation of the intrahepatic bile ducts. BH are occasionally diagnosed, but often lack obvious clinical symptoms. They are usually diagnosed by biopsy and imaging tests in clinical practice. Few studies have reported the association of BH with portal hypertension.

CASE SUMMARY

A 40-year-old man was repeatedly admitted to our hospital due to hematochezia. The source of bleeding was considered to be gastroesophageal varices and portal hypertensive gastropathy by endoscopy. He had no history of hepatitis virus infection, alcohol abuse, drug-induced liver injury, or autoimmune liver disease. He underwent magnetic resonance imaging, which showed rounded, irregular, low-signal-T1 and high-signal-T2 lesions diffusely distributed on the liver, that were not communicated with the biliary system on magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography. According to the imaging examination, the patient was considered to have a diagnosis of BH with portal hypertension.

CONCLUSION

Based on the present case report, BH may be a potential etiology of portal hypertension.

Keywords: Biliary hamartomas, Portal hypertension, Variceal bleeding, Computed tomography, Magnetic resonance imaging, Case report

Core tip: Biliary hamartomas (BH) are a rare benign disease caused by malformation of the intrahepatic bile ducts. BH are occasionally diagnosed, but often lack obvious clinical symptoms. Herein, we report a patient diagnosed with BH by imaging tests who presented with recurrent variceal bleeding, which suggested the possibility of BH as a potential cause of portal hypertension.