Bile Duct Cancer & Sclerosing Cholangitis

Nov. 1, 1999 — The American football legend Walter Payton died today at his home near Chicago at age 45. Mr. Payton was the all-time leading rusher in the history of the National Football League.

It was well known that he had a progressive liver disease called primary sclerosing cholangitis. However, the cause of Mr. Payton’s death was bile duct cancer, said Dr. Greg Gores, his physician at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.

During a news conference in Chicago on Feb. 2, Mr. Payton had revealed that he had primary sclerosing cholangitis. He said doctors had told him he would need a liver transplant within two years. Only a week later, this time table was revised and he was told that he needed a transplant by the end of 1999.

Dr. Gores indicated that Mr. Payton had received chemotherapy and radiation treatment after the bile duct cancer was diagnosed but that the cancer had progressed to where “transplantation was no longer a viable option.”

The purpose of this article is to provide perspectives on both of Mr. Payton’s illnesses: bile duct cancer and primary sclerosing cholangitis.

Bile Duct Cancer

Bile duct cancer is a rare disease in which there are malignant cells in the tissues of the extrahepatic bile duct. The bile duct is a tube that connects the liver and the gallbladder to the small intestine. The part of the bile duct that is outside the liver is called the extrahepatic bile duct.

A fluid called bile, which is made by the liver and breaks down fats during digestion, is stored in the gallbladder. When food is being broken down in the intestines, bile is released from the gallbladder through the bile duct to the first part of the small intestine.

The symptoms of bile duct cancer include yellowing of the skin (jaundice), pain in the abdomen, fever, and itching.

If there are symptoms, tests are usually ordered to see if there is cancer. These may include an ultrasound (a test that uses sound waves to find tumors), a CT (a computed tomographic) scan, a special type of x-ray that uses a computer to make a picture of the inside of the abdomen) and an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging which uses magnetic waves to make a picture of the inside of the abdomen).

A test called an ERCP (endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography) may be done. A flexible tube is put down the throat, through the stomach, and into the small intestine. The doctor can see through the tube and inject dye into the drainage tube (duct) of the pancreas so that the area can be seen more clearly on an x-ray.

PTC (percutaneous transhepatic cholangiography) is another test that can help find cancer of the extrahepatic bile duct. During this test, a thin needle is put into the liver through the right side of the patient. Dye is injected through the needle into the bile duct in the liver so that blockages can be seen on x-rays.

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