What is Cholangiocarcinoma?

Cholangiocarcinoma (often referred to as bile duct cancer) is a cancerous growth in one of the ducts that carries bile from the liver to the small intestine. Cholangiocarcinoma is rare. It occurs in approximately 2 out of 100,000 people, but rates of cholangiocarcinoma have been rising worldwide over the past several decades. Cancerous tumors of the bile ducts are usually slow-growing and do not spread quickly. However, many of these tumors are already advanced by the time they are found. A cholangiocarcinoma may start anywhere along the bile ducts. These tumors block off the bile ducts and do not allow bile to flow from the liver to the intestine. This is why one of the first symptoms noticed is jaundice. This cancer affects both men and women and most patients are older than 65(http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001336/).

Prominent symptoms of cholangiocarcinoma include abnormal liver function tests, abdominal pain, jaundice, weight loss, and sometimes generalized itching, fever, or changes in stool or urine color. The disease is diagnosed through a combination of blood tests, imaging, endoscopy, and sometimes surgical exploration. Known risk factors for cholangiocarcinoma include primary sclerosing cholangitis (an inflammatory disease of the bile ducts), and congenital liver malformations.

Cholangiocarcinoma is considered to be an incurable and rapidly lethal disease unless all of its tumors can be fully resected (cut out surgically). There is no potentially curative treatment except surgery, but unfortunately most patients have advanced and inoperable disease at the time of diagnosis.

For more information, please go to the following links:
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
www.cholangiocarcinoma.org/
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cholangiocarcinoma/