[Systemic treatment of biliary tract cancer]

Biliary tract cancer is a relatively rare disease with a poor prognosis. The disease should be handled in a multidisciplinary setting to ensure proper diagnosis and curative surgery if possible. The majority of patients will, however, need oncologic treatment at a certain time. The standard treatment is combination chemotherapy with gemcitabine and a platinum, and in Denmark the regime consists of gemcitabine, oxaliplatin and capecitabine. Research is focused on tumour markers and clinical trials combining chemotherapy with molecularly targeted agents.