MALIGNANT-TUMORS OF EXTRAHEPATIC BILE-DUCTS

  • 1 January 1977
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 81  (2) , 198-202
Abstract
A series of 76 patients treated for carcinoma of the extrahepatic bile ducts at 3 Swedish hospitals from 1952-1973 was studied. The mean age of the patients was 68 yr. Gallstones were found in 22 patients, whereas 11 patients underwent cholecystectomy earlier for gallstone disease. At operation widespread metastases were found less often in patients with cancer of the papilla of Vater than in patients with cancer of other locations. This is interpreted as indicating that patients with papillary carcinoma are treated in an earlier stage of the disease. This interpretation is supported by the finding that these patients had a longer length of survival after bypass operations (11.5 mo.). In spite of treatment in an early stage, survival after radical surgery was disappointingly short (4.6 mo.). Patients with cancer located above the papilla of Vater survived for 6.8 mo. after bypass operations as compared with 23.3 mo. after resection. The possibilities of radical surgery should be considered carefully, especially in patients in whom the malignancy is located above the papillary region.

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