title: Survival benefits of surgical resection in recurrent cholangiocarcinoma.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Attempt to identify the beneficial effects associated with surgical procedures on survival outcome of patients with recurrent cholangiocarcinoma.
  
  
  METHODS
  921 patients diagnosed with cholangiocarcinoma underwent surgical resection with curative intent in a single institute during the last 15 years. Patients with recurrent disease were divided into two groups according to whether surgical procedures were performed for the treatment of recurrence. Clinicopathologic variables, ranges of survival based on sites of recurrence, and types of treatment were analyzed retrospectively.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The median follow-up period was 21.8 months and 316 (34.3%) patients had recurrence. 27 (group A) patients with recurrent disease were treated surgically and 289 patients (group B) were not treated. Liver resection, metastasectomy, pancreaticoduodenectomy, partial pancreatectomy, and regional lymph node dissection were performed on the patients in group A. The overall survival rate was statistically higher in group A (P = 0.001). Among the surgical procedures, resection of locoregional recurrences (except liver) in abdominal cavity (4.0 to 101.8 months vs. 0.6 to 71.6 months) and metastasectomy of abdominal or chest wall (3.5 to 18.9 months vs. 1.9 to 2.2 months) showed remarkable differences with respect to the range of survival.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Better survival outcomes can be expected by performing surgical resection of locoregional recurrences (except liver) in abdominal cavity and abdominal or chest wall metastatic lesions in recurrent cholangiocarcinoma.
authors: Department of Surgery, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors: Sun Choon
authors: SC
authors: Song
authors: Jin Seok
authors: JS
authors: Heo
authors: Dong Wook
authors: DW
authors: Choi
authors: Seong Ho
authors: SH
authors: Choi
authors: Woo Seok
authors: WS
authors: Kim
authors: Min Jung
authors: MJ
authors: Kim