Bile duct carcinoma and biliary tract dysplasia in chronic ulcerative colitis.

A case of chronic ulcerative colitis with a moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma of the common hepatic duct is described. Throughout the entire biliary tree, there was extensive epithelial dysplasia associated with changes of primary sclerosing cholangitis. The development of primary sclerosing cholangitis in the biliary tract of patients with ulcerative colitis appears to precede dysplasia and may be a marker of patients at risk for developing biliary tract carcinomas.