title: Patients with advanced cholangiocarcinoma benefit from chemotherapy if they are fit to receive it: single center experience.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to report the clinical course and outcome of patients suffering from advanced cholangiocarcinoma (CCA).
  
  
  METHODS
  The medical records of 93 patients with unresectable or metastatic CCA were retrospectively analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Out of 93 patients, 53 (64.9%) were initially managed with palliative biliary drainage (PBD). Cisplatinbased regimens were administered to 18 (19.3%) patients, and non-cisplatin regimens (mainly 5-fluorouracil [5-FU]- based) were administered to 23 (24.8%) patients. Of all 93 patients 53 (55.9%) did not receive chemotherapy. The median overall survival (OS) for all patients was 6.1 months and was significantly higher in patients treated with chemotherapy as compared to those without chemotherapy (p=0.002). However, no difference in OS was seen in patients treated with cisplatin- or 5-FU-based chemotherapy. We noticed that a high number of patients were not referred to a medical oncologist even for advice.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The relief of bile duct obstruction is an important part of the initial patient management. One of the main observations of this study was that systemic chemotherapy significantly improved survival. Increased awareness of the medical oncologists' role in the management of CCA can increase the number of patients who can have access to chemotherapy.
authors: Baskent University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Medical Oncology, Adana, Turkey.
authors: F
authors: F
authors: Kose
authors: H
authors: H
authors: Abali
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Sezer
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Ali Besen
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Taner Sumbul
authors: C
authors: C
authors: Karadeniz
authors: U
authors: U
authors: Disel
authors: U
authors: U
authors: Ozyilkan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001650:Bile Duct Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality; D001653:Bile Ducts, Intrahepatic; D018281:Cholangiocarcinoma / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged