Chemotherapy for the biliary tract cancers: moving toward improved survival time.
BACKGROUND
The biliary tract carcinomas rank fifth in incidence among all gastrointestinal tumours. This group of tumours includes both cholangiocarcinoma and gallbladder carcinoma. Although surgery represents the main therapeutic option for these patients, both radiotherapy and chemotherapy could be used in a multidisciplinary approach. Several studies are currently available on the use of chemotherapy, including 5-fluorouracil, mitomycin C, methotrexate, doxorubicin and cisplatin or newer anticancer molecules, such as gemcitabine, capecitabine, oxaliplatin and irinotecan. However, the small sample size of most of these studies prevents generalization.


CONCLUSIONS
We reviewed the available data on both chemotherapy and targeted therapies for biliary carcinoma. By using conventional chemotherapy, a response rate ranging from 10% to 40% has been reported. Although encouraging data emerged with the use of targeted therapies, further efforts are needed to improve treatment options for patients with biliary tract cancer.
Department of Oncology, Sant'Andrea Hospital, La Sapienza University, Rome, Italy.
Adriana
A
Romiti
Chiara
C
D'Antonio
Angelo
A
Zullo
Ida
I
Sarcina
Roberta
R
Di Rocco
Viola
V
Barucca
Valeria
V
Durante
Paolo
P
Marchetti
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001661:Biliary Tract Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality*; D006801:Humans; D011379:Prognosis; D015996:Survival Rate
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents