title: Detection of benign hilar bile duct stenoses - A retrospective analysis in 250 patients with suspicion of Klatskin tumour.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The aim of this study was to identify clinical, laboratory and radiological parameters to distinguish benign from malignant stenoses of the proximal bile duct.
  
  
  METHODS
  Between 1997 and 2011, 250 patients were referred to our clinic with hilar bile duct stenoses suspicious for Klatskin tumour. Medical histories, clinical data, pre-interventional laboratory tests, imaging findings, as well as therapeutic approach and patient outcome were compared to final histological results. All data were retrieved from our prospectively maintained database and analysed retrospectively.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found benign bile duct lesions in 34 patients (13.6%). Among the entire study population, uni- and multivariate analyses of 18 clinicopathological parameters revealed that patient age, serum alkaline phosphatase, tumour marker CA19-9 and presence of tumour mass in computed tomography were independent predictors for malignant biliary stenoses (p < 0.05). Receiver operator characteristic curve showed that a CA19-9 serum level of 61.2 U/ml or more has a sensitivity, specificity and diagnostic accuracy for predicting the malignant nature of the hilar biliary stenoses of 74.6%, 80.0% and 83.5%, respectively. Surgical resection could be avoided by preoperative work-up and surgical exploration in 10 out of 34 patients with benign lesions. Rates of major liver resections performed were 66.7% in the benign lesion group and 90.7% in the Klatskin tumour group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Despite improvements of preoperative diagnostics, it remains difficult to differentiate between benign and malignant hilar bile duct stenosis. Even explorative laparotomy was not able to safely exclude Klatskin tumour in all cases and therefore major liver resection was inevitable.
authors.affiliation: Department of Visceral, Transplantation, Vascular and Thoracic Surgery, University Hospital of Leipzig, Liebigstr. 20, 04103 Leipzig, Germany; Department of Transplantation and Hepatobiliarypancreatic Surgery, University Medical Centre, Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Langenbeckstr. 1, 55131 Mainz, Germany.
authors.forename: Uwe
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Scheuermann
authors.affiliation: Department of Transplantation and Hepatobiliarypancreatic Surgery, University Medical Centre, Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Langenbeckstr. 1, 55131 Mainz, Germany.
authors.forename: Rizky
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Widyaningsih
authors.affiliation: Department of Transplantation and Hepatobiliarypancreatic Surgery, University Medical Centre, Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Langenbeckstr. 1, 55131 Mainz, Germany.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hoppe-Lotichius
authors.affiliation: Department of Transplantation and Hepatobiliarypancreatic Surgery, University Medical Centre, Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Langenbeckstr. 1, 55131 Mainz, Germany.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Heise
authors.affiliation: Department of Transplantation and Hepatobiliarypancreatic Surgery, University Medical Centre, Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Langenbeckstr. 1, 55131 Mainz, Germany.
authors.forename: Gerd
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Otto
keywords: Benign hilar stenosis; Diagnostic; Klatskin tumour; Mimicking lesions; Surgical procedure