Background/purpose: Carcinoma of the distal bile duct is associated with poor prognosis. Surgical resection remains the only potentially curative treatment. We conducted a retrospective study to identify prognostic factors determining longterm survival.
Methods: From 1990 to 2006, 95 patients with distal and/or middle bile duct carcinoma had resections. Fifty-four patients underwent pylorus-preserving pancreaticoduodenectomy (57%) and 41 patients underwent standard Kausch-Whipple pancreaticoduodenectomy (43%). Nine patients underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy including portal vein resection (9%).
Results: Overall 1-, 3-, and 5-year survival rates were 60%, 36%, and 29%, respectively. Five-year survival after R0 resection was 34%, and after R1 resection it was 0%. Four patients died during their hospital stay (4%). Multivariate analysis showed negative resection margins (P = 0.040), lymphatic vessel invasion (P = 0.036), and portal vein infiltration (P = 0.027) as strong predictors for survival, whereas the location of the tumor (distal bile duct vs middle bile duct) and lymph node status were not identified as independent prognostic factors.
Conclusions: Five-year survival depends strongly on negative resection margins, independent of nodal status. Portal vein resections in patients with portal vein involvement fail to ameliorate long-term survival. Primary tumor site--middle bile duct or distal bile duct--did not determine prognosis.