Subdivision of pT1N0 (American Joint Committee on Cancer 8th edition) distal cholangiocarcinoma for adjuvant chemotherapy consideration.

BACKGROUND

The adjuvant S-1 trial affirmed adjuvant chemotherapy for biliary tract cancer but excluded pT1N0 distal cholangiocarcinoma (DCC) according to the seventh edition of the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) classification. The introduction of tumor depth of invasion (DOI) for T-classification in the eighth edition complicates identifying DCC patients less likely to benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy.

METHODS

Our cohort consisted of 185 patients with DCC who underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy between 2002 and 2019. We compared clinicopathological factors and survival outcomes between pT1N0 patients in the seventh edition and those in the eighth edition. New DOI cutoffs for subdividing pT1N0 (8th edition) patients were evaluated to identify patients less likely to benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy.

RESULTS

Transitioning to the eighth edition increased in pT1N0 cases from eight to 46. The 5-year cumulative recurrence rates of them were 14.3% for the seventh edition and 28.3% for the eighth edition. We proposed a DOI cutoff of <2 mm, at which the 5-year cumulative recurrence rate was 11.5%.

CONCLUSION

The eighth AJCC classification revealed that a significant proportion of pT1N0 DCC patients were at risk for recurrence. A DOI cutoff of <2 mm may be considered to potentially improve patient selection for adjuvant chemotherapy.