Cholangiocarcinoma: An-eight-year Experience in a Tertiary-Center in Iran

Background and Aim: Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) is an uncommon malignancy of the bile duct, occurringin nearly 2 out of 100,000 people. It is a type of adenocarcinoma that originates in the mucous glands of theepithelium, or surface layers of the bile ducts. The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical features, diagnosticresults and factors associated with survival, morbidity and mortalityof cholangiocarcinoma cases in Iranianpatients.
Method: In this retrospective study the hospital medical records of 283 patients with a primary orfinal diagnosis of cholangiocarcinoma who had been admitted to gastroenterology ward of our hospital from2004 to 2011 were retrospectively reviewed.
Results: 283 patients (180 male, 63%, and 103 female, 38.6%) witha mean age of 59.7±14.4 years were studied. The most frequent symptoms were painless jaundice (190, 66.9%),abdominal pain (77, 27%), pruritus 133 (46.8%) and weight loss (169, 59.5%). The most frequent associatedrisk factors and diseases were as follows: gallstones (72, 25.4%), diabetes (70, 24.6%), HBV infection (52(18.3%), HCV infection 43 (15%), primary sclerosing cholangitis (16, 5.6%) and smoking (120, 42.3%). Themost frequent type of cholangiocarcinoma in ERCP and MRCP was hilar. The mean survival time was 7.42±5.76months.
Conclusion: The mean survival time in our study was lower than one year. Moreover the most frequentrisk factors and associated diseases were smoking, gallstones and diabetes. Painless jaundice, abdominal painand weight loss were the most clinical features related to cholangiocarcinoma. Additionally survival time didnot correlate with risk factors, associated diseases and clinical presentations, but was linked to biliary metallicstenting and surgery.