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Cholangiocarcinoma - Overview

Alternative Names

Bile duct cancer

Definition of Cholangiocarcinoma:

Cholangiocarcinoma is a cancerous (malignant) growth in one of the ducts that carries bile from the liver to the small intestine.

Causes, incidence, and risk factors:

Cancerous tumors of the bile ducts are usually slow-growing and do not spread (metastasize) 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.

They affect both men and women. Most patients are older than 65.

Ricks for this condition include:

Bile duct (choledochal) cysts
Chronic biliary irritation
History of infection with the parasitic worm, liver flukes
Primary sclerosing cholangitis

Cholangiocarcinoma is rare. It occurs in approximately 2 out of 100,000 people.

Digestive system

Bile pathway

Reviewed last on: 9/4/2008
Sean O. Stitham, MD, private practice in Internal Medicine, Seattle, Washington; and James R. Mason, MD, Oncologist, Director, Blood and Marrow Transplantation Program and Stem Cell Processing Lab, Scripps Clinic, Torrey Pines, California. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.

References

Lillemoe KD. Tumors of the gallbladder, bile ducts, and ampulla. In: Feldman M, Friedman LS, Brandt LJ. Feldman: Sleisenger & Fordtran's Gastrointestinal and Liver Disease. 8th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Saunders Elsevier: chap 66.

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