DOCTOR'S VIEWS ARCHIVE
Walter Payton Dies - 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.
If abnormal tissue is found, the doctor may remove a small amount
of fluid or tissue from the bile duct and look at it
under the microscope to look for cancer cells. This biopsy
procedure is usually done during the PTC or ERCP.
Because it is sometimes hard to tell whether a patient has cancer
or another disease, surgery may be needed. If this is the case, the
surgeon will go into the abdomen and look at the bile duct and the
tissues around it for cancer. If there is cancer and if it looks like
it has not spread to other tissues, the doctor may remove the cancer
or relieve blockages caused by the tumor.
If extrahepatic bile duct cancer is found, further
tests are done to see if the cancer cells have spread to other parts
of the body. This is called staging the cancer. The stage of the
cancer is important to the treatment plan and prognosis (outlook).
The following stages are commonly used for extrahepatic bile duct
cancer:
-
Localized: The cancer is only in the area where it began and it can
be removed by surgery.
-
Unresectable: The cancer cannot be completely removed (resected) by
surgery. The cancer may have spread to nearby organs and lymph nodes
or to other parts of the body.
- Recurrent: This means the cancer has come back (recurred) after
it has been treated. It may come back in the bile duct or in another
part of the body.
The treatments for bile duct cancer include: surgery (taking out
the cancer or taking steps to relieve symptoms caused by the cancer),
radiation therapy (using high-dose x-rays to kill the cancer cells);
and chemotherapy (using drugs to kill cancer cells).
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