Postoperative CA19-9 Change Is a Useful Predictor of Intrahepatic Cholangiocarcinoma Survival following Liver Resection

Background. To investigate the clinical significance of the perioperative CA19-9 change for predicting survival in intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) patients treated with surgical resection. Methods. We retrospectively reviewed the data from 74 ICC patients treated with surgical resection between April 2001 and July 2010. Perioperative CA19-9 (preoperative level, postoperative lowest level, and level at recurrence) levels were analyzed for patient distribution and survival. Results. Before surgery, there were 45 patients who had high preoperative CA19-9 levels (>37 U/mL) and 29 who had normal levels (≤37 U/mL). Of 45 patients with high CA19-9 levels, 34 had normalized CA19-9 levels after resection and 11 had persistently high levels. Of 34 patients with normalized CA19-9 levels, 18 showed recurrence. Of 29 patients with normal preoperative levels, 15 showed recurrence. Multivariate analysis presented that old age (hazard ratio [HR] = 3.881, p < 0.01), persistently high postoperative CA19-9 level (HR = 4.41, p < 0.001), perineural invasion (HR = 3.073, p = 0.01), narrow resection margin (HR = 3.152, p = 0.05), and lymph node metastasis (HR = 3.427, p = 0.02) were significant independent risk factors for survival. Conclusions. Patients who have normalized CA19-9 levels postoperatively have longer survival outcomes. Therefore, normalized postoperative CA19-9 may be a useful clinical marker for ICC survival.