Left hepatectomy for cholangiocarcinoma: case report and literature review

Cholangiocarcinoma is a rare biliary tract malignant tumor thatremains a major challenge for surgeons. It is associated with poorprognosis and high morbidity and mortality rates even after surgicaltreatment. Diagnosis by non-invasive methods (3D CT, MRcholangiography) enables precise tumor staging in addition tocorrectly selecting patients for surgery. The general consensus hasshown that surgery by completely resecting the tumor and leavingfree surgical margins is the treatment that offers the best prognosisand the only chance of cure. Chemotherapy and radiotherapy in thepostoperative period do not seem to change survival or recurrencerates, even in cases in which complete resection is performed.Despite all diagnostic and therapeutic advances, the 5-year survivalrate remains 7-33%. Up to now, surgery is the treatment that offersthe best chances of cure. In the present study, we describe thesurgical treatment of a patient with cholangiocarcinoma with asatisfactory outcome and present a review of the current treatmentin international literature for patients with cholangiocarcinoma.