Long-term Morbidity After Surgery for Perihilar Cholangiocarcinoma; a Cohort Study

Cholangiocarcinoma is an uncommon cancer, but is the second commonest primary hepatic tumour after hepatocellular carcinoma. Its incidence is rising globally with 1200 cases per year in England & Wales. Tumours may originate within the liver itself, although the majority arise at the confluence of the hepatic ducts (perihilar tumours). Surgery is the only potentially curative treatment, but remains a formidable undertaking usually requiring a major liver resection to achieve the clear surgical margins that are essential for long-term survival, followed by complex biliary reconstruction. The magnitude of this surgery is reflected in an operative mortality reported between 10-15% in most Western centres. In addition, almost half the patients suffer major complications prior to discharge from hospital.

Following such surgery, around 30-40% of patients are alive after 5 years. However, a significant minority succumb to rapid disease recurrence, with a third dying within the first year after resection. Although offering no hope of cure, systemic chemotherapy with cisplatin/gemcitabine offers a median overall survival of 11.7 months. For patients planned to undergo surgery, but found to have locally advanced and therefore irresectable disease at laparotomy, median survival with palliative chemotherapy can reach 16 months with 10% of patients alive 3 years later. It therefore seems likely that a proportion of patients undergo major surgery, at significant risk of immediate postoperative mortality or morbidity, when they may be better served by systemic chemotherapy.

Operative morbidity and mortality has traditionally been reported as death or complication occurring within the first 30 days after surgery. However, it is now clear that this 30-day cut-off underestimates the morbidity and mortality after hepatic resection with ninety-day morbidity and mortality increasingly recognised as a more appropriate measure of postoperative outcome after liver surgery. There is also a lack of evidence on the impact that contemporary enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) programmes may have on these outcomes.

The unique characteristics of the complex and demanding surgery required for resection of this disease means there is also a possibility of long-term complications beyond 90-days. To date, the long-term morbidity after resection has not been reported. These data are essential to allow patients to make fully informed decisions around the risks and benefits of surgery.

This study therefore aimed to characterise the long-term morbidity after resection of perihilar cholangiocarcinoma managed with an ERAS programme in a Western centre.