Long-term Survival in Carcinoma of the Biliary Tract

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Abstract
• In 146 consecutive patients undergoing resection for carcinoma of the biliary tract, various tumor characteristics that affected long-term survival of the patients were studied. Patients with gallbladder carcinoma whose tumors had no serosal infiltration or vessel invasion were grossly papillary, or were papillary or well-differentiated adenocarcinoma histologically survived longer than those without these tumor characteristics. In upper-third lesions, patients whose tumors showed no serosal infiltration or vessel invasion, were grossly papillary, were papillary or well-differentiated adenocarcinoma histologically, or were treated with hepatic lobectomy had a higher chance of long-term survival. Patients with the middle-third lesions, whose tumors were grossly papillary or nodular or whose margins were tumor-free, were apt to survive longer. Long-term survival for patients with lower-third lesions was obtained most often in patients without lymph node metastasis or vessel invasion. (Arch Surg 1989;124:248-252)