Case report: appearance of an intestinal metastasis from intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma occurring 5 years after resection of the primary tumor

We present the unusual case of a 76-year-old male who developed an intestinal recurrence of the same tumor 5 years after hepatic resection for an intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma. At the time of the first surgery, the patient had undergone hepatic bisegmentectomy of segments IV and V with an 'en bloc' gallbladder resection and porta hepatis lymphadenectomy for the presence of a focal cholangiocarcinoma measuring about 3.0 x 2.5 cm in diameter. The histological report confirmed intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma, the resection margins were free from disease, and there were no lymph node metastases. Five years later colonoscopy showed, at the level of the splenic flexure, the presence of a sessile bilobate polypoid neoplasm. The patient underwent left hemicolectomy with a histological diagnosis of an isolated recurrence of cholangiocarcinoma.