Extrahepatic bile duct cancer. Report of 106 cases.

Extrahepatic bile duct cancers (BDC) are still frustratingly difficult lesions to deal with at present. 106 cases of BDC treated between January 1986 and December 1990 were reviewed retrospectively. The resectability rate of the entire series was 18.9%. Hilar (upper third) BDC accounted for 51% of the entire series and its resection rate was 14.8%. Lymph node metastases occurred in 40.9% of the cases and were mostly seen in the middle 1/3 of BDC. 32% of the cases had liver metastases, frequently occurred in hilar BDC. Sixty-four patients had specimens histologically studied. Of them, adenocarcinomas accounted for 90.6% (58 cases) and adenosquamous carcinomas 4.7% (3). Among the adenocarcinomas, 32 (55.2%) cases were well differentiated and 26 (44.8%) poorly differentiated.