Comparison of Clinical Characteristics between Occupational and Sporadic Young-Onset Cholangiocarcinoma

Background: Since seventeen employees of an offset printing company in Osaka, Japan developedcholangiocarcinoma it has become recognized as an occupational cancer. This study investigated the differencesof clinical features between occupational cholangiocarcinoma and sporadic young-onset cholangiocarcinoma.Materials and
Methods: Thirty-four young adults (<50 years old) with sporadic cholangiocarcinoma wereextracted from the Rosai Hospital Group database (sporadic group) and their clinical features were comparedwith those of 17 patients with occupational cholangiocarcinoma (occupational group).
Results: The 34 patientsin the sporadic group were treated for cholangiocarcinoma at 16 different Rosai hospitals. There were significantdifferences of age (p<0.01), gender (p<0.01), abnormal laboratory tests (p<0.01), and tumor location (p<0.01)between the two groups. The percentage of patients with abnormal laboratory tests was significantly higherin the occupational group than in the sporadic group (p<0.001). Regional dilation of bile ducts, which is acharacteristic of occupational cholangiocarcinoma, was not observed in the sporadic group.
Conclusions: Nocluster of cholangiocarcinoma cases was identified in the Rosai Hospital database. There were differences ofclinical features between occupational and sporadic cholangiocarcinoma, which might be helpful for diagnosingoccupational cholangiocarcinoma in the future.