Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma

Abstract

The paper gives information on current approaches to diagnosing and treating intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (IHC), its microscopic and macroscopic varieties. It details the specificfeatures of images of IHC by ultrasonography, X-ray computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), including those by diffusion-weighted MRI. Dynamic intravenous contrast enhancement and analysis of tumor hemodynamic features are emphasized to play a crucial role in different examination (arterial, venous, and delayed) phases. Diffuse heterogeneous enhancement of the whole volume of the tumor in the arterial phase withpronounced peripheral and progressing centripetal enhancement in ensuing phases is considered to be the most common type of an IHC image, which can recognize with confidence this comparatively rare neoplasm.

Keywords

• intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma
• diagnosis
• computed tomography
• magnetic resonance imaging
• diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging