[Gemcitabine in the treatment of 4 patients with cholangiocarcinoma]

Cholangiocarcinoma is a biliary tree cancer of unknown etiology, whose symptoms are unspecific and is usually detected in advanced stages. Surgery continues to be the only curative therapy. Median survival in patients with inoperable tumors ranges between 5 and 8 months. There are few studies on the effects of chemotherapy, with a very small response. We report four patients with advanced cholangiocarcinoma, treated with gemcitabine 1000 mg/m2, weekly for 3 weeks every 28 days. There was a stabilization of tumor size and symptoms were alleviated. Toxicity was low and there was a probable prolongation of survival.