Characterization of Prognostic Factors and the Efficacy of Adjuvant S-1 Chemotherapy in Patients with Post-surgery Extrahepatic Bile Duct Cancer.

BACKGROUND/AIM: There is no clear consensus on the type of adjuvant therapy that should be used for patients with extrahepatic bile duct cancer.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: Two hundred and seventy-one patients that had undergone surgical resection for extrahepatic bile duct cancer composed the study cohort. Demographics, treatments, and relationships between the potential prognostic factors and survival rates were analyzed.

RESULTS: The overall 3-year and 5-year survival rates for post-surgery extrahepatic bile duct cancer patients were 49.0% and 35.4%, respectively. Multivariate analysis revealed that regional lymph node metastasis was an independent negative prognostic factor. We observed a significant correlation between node-positive extrahepatic bile duct cancer and postoperative local recurrence, liver metastasis, peritoneal dissemination, and post-surgery lymph node metastasis. Adjuvant S-1 chemotherapy showed a favorable hazard ratio in patients with lymph node metastases or positive vascular invasion.

CONCLUSION: We recommend the use of adjuvant S-1 therapy in patients with lymph node metastases or microvascular invasion.