Impact of nodal involvement on surgical outcomes of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma: a multicenter analysis by the Study Group for Hepatic Surgery of the Japanese Society of Hepato-Biliary-Pancreatic Surgery

Background/purpose The aim of this study was to clarify the prognostic factors of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) following hepatectomy and to examine the impact of lymph node metastasis on survival. This study was therefore carried out as a Project Study of the Japanese Society of Hepato-Biliary-Pancreatic Surgery. Methods Three hundred and forty-one patients who underwent hepatectomy for ICC between 1995 and 2004 at the 9 institutions of the Medical University Hospitals were analyzed retrospectively. Multivariate regression analyses and a Kaplan–Meyer analysis were performed to identify prognostic factors. Results Pathological lymph node metastasis was one of the significant factors affecting overall survival (hazard ratio 2.10, p