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Case Report
A rare cause of hemobilia: Metastatic melanoma of the gallbladder
1 MD, Biomed, Surgical Registrar, Department of General Surgery, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
2 MBBS, FRACS, Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary and Upper Gastrointestinal Surgeon, General Surgery and Gastroenterology Clinical Institute, Epworth Health-Care, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; Department of Surgery, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; Department of Surgery, Monash Medical Centre, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Address correspondence to:
Meera L Chandrananth
300 Grattan St, Parkville, Victoria 3050,
Australia
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Article ID: 100091Z04MC2020
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Chandrananth ML, Cullinan M. A rare cause of hemobilia: Metastatic melanoma of the gallbladder. Int J Hepatobiliary Pancreat Dis 2020;10:100091Z04MC2020.ABSTRACT
Introduction: Gallbladder melanoma is an extremely rare entity, even more so in living patients, as many remain asymptomatic. Patients usually present with symptoms resembling acute cholecystitis, however here we present a case of metastatic melanoma of the gallbladder presenting with hemobilia.
Case Report: An 82-year-old lady with a history of skin cancer excisions, including melanoma, many years ago, presented with anemia of unknown origin. A computed tomography (CT) scan was performed, demonstrating a gallbladder mass and hemobilia. She successfully underwent open cholecystectomy, partial liver resection, and lymph node dissection, which on histopathology, demonstrated metastatic melanoma. She remains disease free eight months later.
Conclusion: Although melanoma of the gallbladder is rare, in patients with a past history of melanoma, a high index of suspicion should be maintained if there are concerning signs, such as anemia, without a clear cause. With early identification and surgical intervention, a patient’s survival rate can be optimized.
Keywords: Gallbladder, Hemobilia, Melanoma, Metastasis
SUPPORTING INFORMATION
Author Contributions
Meera L Chandrananth - Substantial contributions to conception and design, Acquisition of data, Analysis of data, Interpretation of data, Drafting the article, Revising it critically for important intellectual content, Final approval of the version to be published
Mark Cullinan - Substantial contributions to conception and design, Acquisition of data, Analysis of data, Interpretation of data, Drafting the article, Revising it critically for important intellectual content, Final approval of the version to be published
Guarantor of SubmissionThe corresponding author is the guarantor of submission.
Source of SupportNone
Data AvailabilityAll relevant data are within the paper and its Supporting Information files.
Conflict of InterestAuthors declare no conflict of interest.
Copyright© 2020 Meera L Chandrananth et al. This article is distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium provided the original author(s) and original publisher are properly credited. Please see the copyright policy on the journal website for more information.
