Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma: a clinicopathologic study of 37 resected cases.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND/AIMS: This study aimed to evaluate prognostic factors for intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) patients who underwent surgical procedure. METHODOLOGY: A total of 37 ICC patients who underwent curative hepatic resection in our department from November 2006 to June 2009 were recruited in this study. Eighteen clinicopathological factors that might influence survival were selected. Survival rates of patients were calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method and the prognostic factors were selected by the Cox proportional hazard model. RESULTS: The overall 1-, 3- and 5- year survival rates were 37.1%, 17.1% and 11.4%, respectively. Univariate analysis showed that tumor thrombus, intrahepatic bile duct dilatation, hepatolithiasis, high serum levels of carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA19-9), high serum levels of total bilirubin (TB), low serum levels of prealbumin, high serum levels of γ-glutamyltransferase (γ-GT), high serum levels of alkaline phosphatase (ALP), transfusion, lymph node metastases, advanced UICC stages were significant risk factors for survival. Multivariate analysis identified CA19-9, prealbumin as independent risk factors for postoperative survival. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggested serum prealbumin levels could effectively predict the survival of the ICC patients with the treatment of operation. High serum CA19-9 level was associated with poor survival of ICC patients who underwent operation.