Surgical management and prognostic factors of hilar cholangiocarcinoma: Experience with 115 cases in China

Background: Hilar cholangiocarcinoma (or Klatskin tumor) is a rare condition, accounting for less than 1% of all cancers. This study was designed to assess the surgical and postsurgical management of affected patients, including the postoperative chemotherapy, and an analysis to determine prognostic factors for postoperative morbidity and mortality. Methods: A retrospective review of 115 consecutive cases treated with resection between January 1990 and January 2004 at a single university medical center in southern China was carried out. Clinicopathological data were analyzed and univariate and multivariate analyses against outcome was employed to determine the prognostic significance of a variety of factors including excision margin characteristics, status of metastases, tumor type, histological differentiation, lymph node characteristics, and postoperative therapy. Results: Median survival time of patients treated with resection and anastomosis with postoperative chemotherapy was 41 months compared with 36 months for patients who did not receive chemotherapy postoperatively. Factors correlating with shorter survival were positive excision margin, metastasis, adenoacanthoma-type tumor, poor or unknown histological differentiation, and positive lymph nodes. In addition, postoperative chemotherapy improved survival. Patients treated with chemotherapy postoperatively had a survival of 43.15 +/- 21.02 months, which was significantly longer than the survival of patients who received no postoperatively chemotherapy (36.97 +/- 15.99 months; P < 0.05). Conclusion: Resection with anastomosis and postoperative chemotherapy results in longer survival time compared with no chemotherapy postoperatively. Positive excision margins, metastases, adenoacanthoma-type tumor, poor or unknown histological differentiation, and positive lymph nodes correlate with shorter survival.