title: Indications for neoadjuvant, adjuvant, and palliative chemotherapy in the treatment of biliary tract cancers.
abstract: Advanced biliary tract carcinomas represent a group of aggressive diseases that still carries a poor prognosis. Chemotherapy has been shown to provide disease control and may also prolong survival. An established role for systemic therapy in the adjuvant setting is still lacking. This article reviews the available evidence to support indications of systemic chemotherapy in the palliative setting and discuss the attempts to study it in the perioperative settings.
authors.affiliation: Section of Gastrointestinal Oncology, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, 1275 York Avenue, New York, NY 10022, USA.
authors.forename: Fidel David
authors.initials: FD
authors.lastname: Huitzil-Melendez
authors.forename: Eileen M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: O'Reilly
authors.forename: Austin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Duffy
authors.forename: Ghassan K
authors.initials: GK
authors.lastname: Abou-Alfa
mesh_terms: D001661:Biliary Tract Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy*; D017024:Chemotherapy, Adjuvant; D006801:Humans; D020360:Neoadjuvant Therapy; D010166:Palliative Care