What are the treatment options for extrahepatic bile duct cancer?
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The best treatment option for extrahepatic bile duct cancer is surgery.. Since most extrahepatic bile duct cancer isn't discovered until well after the disease has begun to progress, surgically removing any cancer is the best option for eliminating the cancer. How operable the cancer is also determines the treatment options. If the cancer has not proceeded too far, a stent may be placed to keep the bile duct open so it can function properly prior to surgery. Sometimes radiation therapy or chemotherapy may be used after extrahepatic bile duct cancer surgery to try to prevent its return.
If the cancer is too advanced or doctors don't feel they can operate, radiation may be used to try to shrink the tumor into a more manageable state so it can be removed. Or it may turn out, if the cancer is so far along that surgery would not be an option, that you may decide to seek care to keep you comfortable and out of pain after discussions with your doctors and your loved ones. Additionally, clinical trials of new drugs or new methods of treating extrahepatic bile duct cancer which may be considered as may a liver transplant.
The best treatment option for extrahepatic bile duct cancer is surgery.. Since most extrahepatic bile duct cancer isn't discovered until well after the disease has begun to progress, surgically removing any cancer is the best option for eliminating... More -
Dr. Ajay Sahajpal of Aurora Health Care answered:The management of extrapeatic bile duct cancer depends on whether it is closer to the liver (proximal) or pancreas (distal) side of the bile duct. Generally for distal tumors surgery is the preferred approach with a whipple procedure (pancreaticoduodenectomy and cholecystectomy) with adjuvant chemo/radiation. For tumors closer to the liver it is more controversial. Some groups have good results with a neoadjuvant protocol with chemotherapy and radiation followed by liver transplant. Others favor an aggressive surgery to remove the tumor and bile duct followed by chemotherapy and/or radiation.The management of extrapeatic bile duct cancer depends on whether it is closer to the liver (proximal) or pancreas (distal) side of the bile duct. Generally for distal tumors surgery is the preferred approach with a whipple procedure... More -
There are not many treatment options for this cancer. The main treatment is resection or cutting the cancer out of the liver. Most of the times when the patient is symptomatic, the cancer has probably already spread throughout the liver. If only a few ducts are blocked, a stent can be placed to reopen the blocked duct. Sometimes bypassing will work, too, to make sure that even though there is a blockage, there will still be flow of the bile. Radiation and chemotherapy may also be tried.There are not many treatment options for this cancer. The main treatment is resection or cutting the cancer out of the liver. Most of the times when the patient is symptomatic, the cancer has probably already spread throughout the liver. If only a... More
