What is bile duct cancer?

  Bile duct cancer is a malignant tumor originating from the biliary tract system, and its incidence rate is increasing by 5% per year in recent years, which is the fastest rising tumor among gastrointestinal tract tumors, while hepatobiliary tract cancer accounts for 50-70% of the whole bile duct cancer. Traditional palliative reduction surgery or other treatment modalities such as chemotherapy or radiotherapy do not improve the prognosis. However, due to the special anatomical location and unique biological characteristics of hilar tumors, most patients are already in the middle to late stage when they are diagnosed, and many patients are considered to have no chance of cure and give up treatment.  In recent years, with the development of medical imaging diagnostic technology, especially precision surgery technology, the radical resection rate of hilar cholangiocarcinoma has been significantly improved, and the 5-year survival rate after surgery has reached 50-60% in large international specialized hepatobiliary centers. However, radical resection is usually accomplished by using combined extensive liver resection or even extreme hepatectomy. To ensure surgical safety, especially to prevent the occurrence of severe postoperative liver failure, precise preoperative imaging diagnosis, precise measurement of residual liver volume, preoperative selective hepatic portal vein embolization and complete yellowing reduction, precise intraoperative liver resection, and careful perioperative management are required. Because of this complex series of measures and the enormous risks faced, no large general hospital in China has yet undertaken this work.  The ward I work in, the Second Ward of General Surgery of Peking University First Hospital, is one of the first units in China to carry out surgery for hepatoportal bile duct cancer, and has treated more than 200 cases in total since the 1980s, accumulating rich experience and leading the treatment effect in China. Since 11 years, our ward has been following the international frontier, facing the challenges, risks and responsibilities to save the lives of patients with hilar cholangiocarcinoma, facing the challenges, risks and responsibilities, striving for innovation, taking advantage of our hospital, actively carrying out multidisciplinary collaboration, and successfully completing the difficult surgery of combined caudal lobe resection of the right triple lobe of liver for patients with advanced hilar cholangiocarcinoma with severe jaundice in succession, all of whom were discharged successfully, increasing the rate of radical resection and winning long-term survival for patients In August 2011, we successfully performed an enlarged right hepatic hemicolectomy and caudal lobe resection for a patient with advanced hilar cholangiocarcinoma surnamed Yang. Nearly 70% of the liver volume was removed, and R0 resection was achieved. The patient, a 51-year-old male suffering from severe jaundice, had been transferred to several hospitals and was told that the tumor was unresectable and that only palliative common bile duct drainage surgery could be performed. In January 2012, a patient with advanced hilar bile duct cancer with the surname Gao came to our ward after being abandoned by several large hospitals. At the time of admission, the patient was already severely jaundiced and the tumor had invaded the secondary hepatic duct and was accompanied by portal vein invasion. In order to save the patient’s life, we never give up lightly. Before the operation, the radiology department calculated the liver volume accurately, the interventional department performed biliary drainage and portal vein embolization, and the vascular surgery department performed portal vein resection and anastomosis, and with the active cooperation and collaboration of multiple departments, we completed the right trilobar joint caudal lobectomy and portal vein resection and anastomosis. These two patients have been discharged from the hospital and are in good condition for outpatient review.