Surgical management of infrahilar/suprapancreatic cholangiocarcinoma: an analysis of the surgical procedures, surgical margins, and survivals of 77 patients.
BACKGROUND
Optical surgical management of infrahilar/suprapancreatic cholangiocarcinoma remains controversial.


METHODS
Between 1988 and 2006, 77 patients with infrahilar/suprapancreatic cholangiocarcinoma underwent curative surgical resections following our intention-to-treat strategy. The clinicopathological factors affecting survival were evaluated using univariate and multivariate analyses with regard to the surgical procedures and surgical margins.


RESULTS
The surgical procedure included extrahepatic bile duct resection alone (EHBD; n = 17), major hepatectomy combined with extrahepatic bile duct resection (MHx; n = 26), pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD; n = 28), and MHx and concomitant PD (HPD; n = 6). Performance of MHx and/or PD in addition to EHBD increased surgical morbidity (p = 0.001). Among patients undergoing the four surgical procedures (EHBD, MHx, PD, and HPD), no significant difference was found in the incidence of positive overall surgical margins (53%, 65%, 46%, and 67%, p = 0.51) or long-term survivals (median survival time, 51, 27, 41, and 22 months, p = 0.60). A multivariate analysis revealed that perineural invasion (95% confidence interval, 1.1-12.3, p = 0.009), nodal metastasis (1.6-6.8, p = 0.001), and blood transfusion (1.1-3.9, p = 0.02) were independent predictors of a poor outcome. Perineural invasion was associated with positive radial margins (p = 0.045) and submucosal ductal infiltration (p = 0.03).


CONCLUSIONS
Perineural invasion, rather than the type of surgical procedure, had a significant impact on surgical curability and survival of patients with infrahilar/suprapancreatic cholangiocarcinoma treated according to our intention-to-treat strategy.
Sakamoto
Yoshihiro
Y
Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery Division, National Cancer Center Hospital, 5-1-1 Tsukiji, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0045, Japan. yosakamo@ncc.go.jp
Shimada
Kazuaki
K
Nara
Satoshi
S
Esaki
Minoru
M
Ojima
Hidenori
H
Sano
Tsuyoshi
T
Yamamoto
Junji
J
Kosuge
Tomoo
T
D000368:Aged; D001650:Bile Duct Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D017734:Bile Ducts, Extrahepatic; D001653:Bile Ducts, Intrahepatic; D001662:Biliary Tract Surgical Procedures; D018281:Cholangiocarcinoma / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D006498:Hepatectomy; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D016577:Pancreaticoduodenectomy; D016019:Survival Analysis