Prognostic factors following surgical resection of distal bile duct cancer

PURPOSE: Prognostic factors for distal bile duct cancer are contentious. This study was conducted to analyze the prognostic factors of distal bile duct cancer after surgery with the aim of identifying those associated with diminished survival. METHODS: Two hundred forty-one patients who underwent pylorus-preserving pancreaticoduodenectomy (PPPD) or Whipple procedure in our tertiary hospital from February 1995 to June 2011 were retrospectively analyzed. All patients were pathologically proven to have distal bile duct adenocarcinoma. Postoperative complications, survival, and well-known prognostic factors after resection for distal bile duct cancer were investigated. RESULTS: Preoperative elevated carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA 19-9) level (P = 0.006), positive resection margin (P < 0.001), advanced T stage (P = 0.043), and lymph node metastasis (P = 0.002) were significantly independent worse prognostic indicators by multivariate analysis of resectable distal bile duct cancer. CONCLUSION: R0 resection is the most important so that frozen sections should be utilized aggressively during each operation. For the distal bile duct cancer with elevated preoperative CA 19-9 level or advanced stage, further study on postoperative adjuvant treatment may be warranted.