Cholangiocarcinoma is a malignant neoplasm originating from the biliary epithelium. Its incidence is highest in Southeast Asia, especially in Thailand. Mucinous intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (mucinous iCCA), characterized by an abundant extracellular mucin pool accounting for at least 50% of total tumor volume, is an extremely rare variant of such malignancy and is notorious for rapid progression and dismal prognosis. We conducted an 11‐year retrospective analysis of resected mucinous iCCAs from our institution with a systematic review on mucinous iCCAs and combined hepatocellular‐mucinous cholangiocarcinoma (cHCC‐mCCA). There were four resected mucinous iCCA specimens at our institution (prevalence = 0.5%). Most of the patients were male. The clinicopathological characteristics were variable. The diagnosis of mucinous iCCAs could not be rendered without pathological evaluation. Either intraductal papillary neoplasm or biliary intraepithelial neoplasia was present in three out of four cases. One patient passed away at 11 months following liver resection. A total of 19 mucinous iCCAs and four cHCC‐mCCAs from previously published literature were analyzed. The 1‐year mortality rate of mucinous iCCAs from our series and published literature is 35%. The present study confirmed that mucinous iCCA is an exceedingly uncommon variant of iCCA. The differential diagnoses include metastatic carcinoma with mucinous component and cHCC‐mCCA.

This article was migrated. The article was not marked as recommended. Background and objective:Conventional light microscopy (CLM) has long been used as a teaching modality in pathology courses. Virtual microscopy (VM) has recently challenged traditional practices and revolutionized pathology education. However, most medical schools in Thailand still use CLM to teach pathology to medical students. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of VM in terms of undergraduate teaching as the primary experience at Thammasat University.Methods:Participants were 29 second-year medical students who sat in the practical session of the alimentary system pathology using VM as teaching modality. Students took pre- and post-tests with 12 questions covering common alimentary system diseases, followed by 10 survey questions with a five-point Likert-style scale. Test and satisfaction scores were analyzed.Results:There was a significant difference (p<0.01) between student pre-test scores (mean ± SD, 1.7 ± 2.1) and post-test scores (7.1 ± 3.4). VM was viewed as a preferred learning modality, mainly because of its portability (mean: 4.9 on the five-point Likert-scale), satisfactory quality of images (4.4), permitting learning in less time (4.3), and stimulating cooperation between students while improving interaction with teachers (4).Conclusions:Student perceptions of VM as a new teaching-learning tool and their outstanding performance on the knowledge exam suggest that VM has a potential role in undergraduate teaching. The results of this study help to improve pathology teaching strategy in the integrated curriculum.

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