Postradiation Synovial Sarcoma of the Common Bile Duct: A Previously Unreported Anatomic Site

Abstract

Synovial sarcoma is a ubiquitous neoplasm predominantly affecting soft tissues of young adults of any gender; few cases have been described in the digestive system, mostly in the stomach. The (X;18)(p11.2; q11.2) translocation yields unique SS18-SSX fusion genes. Synovial sarcoma has been related to radiotherapy, but no synovial sarcoma has been associated with the digestive system. This article describes the case of a synovial sarcoma arising along the extrahepatic biliary tree, 10 years after the application of an abdominal radiotherapy schedule due to a retroperitoneal metastatic seminoma in a male who developed progressive obstructive jaundice. Ninety percent of the analyzed cells carried the SS18 gene with separation of sequences, thus denoting a translocation. There are only 8 post-radiotherapy synovial sarcomas that have been reported previously, and this is the first report of a radiotherapy-related synovial sarcoma arising from the extrahepatic biliary tree, and the second case described in this anatomic region.