Effect of local treatment in patients with oligo‐recurrence after surgery of distal bile duct cancer: A bi‐institutional study

BACKGROUND: Distal extrahepatic bile duct (EHBD) cancer is highly recurrent. More than 50% of patients suffer from disease relapse after curative resection. Some patients present with oligo‐recurrence which could be a single loco‐regional mass or lesions limited to a single solid organ. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of local control (surgical resection or radiofrequency ablation) on survival outcomes in patients with oligo‐recurrent distal EHBD cancer. METHODS: Data of 1219 patients who underwent surgery for distal EHBD cancer from 2000 to 2018 were retrospectively reviewed. Clinicopathological characteristics and survival outcomes of patients with recurrence were investigated. Post‐recurrence survival (PRS) was analyzed according to modalities of re‐treatment (local treatment or systemic therapy alone). RESULTS: Among 654 patients with recurrence, 90 patients who had oligo‐recurrence showed better recurrence‐free and overall survival than patients with non‐oligo‐recurrent disease. Lymph node ratio and perineural invasion at initial pathology, timing of recurrence, and platelet‐to‐lymphocyte ratio at recurrence were independent risk factors for PRS in the oligo‐recurrent group. Patients with local treatment for oligo‐recurrence had better 3‐ and 5‐year PRS than those with systemic treatment alone (38.3% vs. 14.1%, p = 0.04; 28.3% vs. 7.1%, p = 0.04, respectively). Recurrence within 24 months after initial surgery was the only significant factor for PRS in the local treatment group. CONCLUSION: In patients with oligo‐recurrence after resection of distal EHBD cancer, post‐recurrence local treatment could improve survival outcomes, particularly for those with recurrence more than 2 years after initial resection.