title: ERCC1 Can Be a Prognostic Factor in Hilar Cholangiocarcinoma and Extrahepatic Bile Duct Cancer, But Not in Intrahepatic Cholangiocarcinoma.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  There are three types of bile duct cancer, intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC), hilar cholangiocarcinoma (HC), and extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (EHC). Despite different clinical presentation, the same protocol has been used in treatment of patients with these cancers. We analyzed clinicopathologic findings and protein expression in order to investigate the difference and the specific prognostic factors among these three types of cancers.
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted a retrospective review of 104 patients diagnosed with bile duct cancer at Seoul St. Mary's Hospital between January 1994 and May 2004. We performed immunohistochemical staining for p53, cyclin D1, thymidine phosphorylase, survivin, and excision repair cross-complementing group 1 (ERCC1).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 104 patients, EHC was most common (44.2%). In pathologic findings, perineural invasion was significantly less common in ICC. Overall survival was similar among the three types of cancer. Lymph node invasion, lymphatic, and venous invasion showed a significant association with survival outcome in ICC, however, the differentiation of histologic grade had prognostic significance in HC and EHC. No difference in protein expression was observed among these types of cancer, however, ERCC1 showed a significant association with survival outcome in HC and EHC, not in ICC.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Based on our data, ICC showed different characteristics and prognostic factors, separate from the other two types of bile duct cancer. Conduct of further studies with a large sample size is required in order to confirm these data.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Kyun Woo
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Eun-Seon
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.forename: Dong-Gu
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Young-Kyung
authors.initials: YK
authors.lastname: Yoo
authors.forename: Tae-Ho
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.forename: In Seok
authors.initials: IS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Yoon Ho
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Koh
authors.forename: Ji-Hoon
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Myung Ah
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Lee
keywords: Bile duct neoplasms; ERCC1; Prognosis