Coagulopathy associated with poor prognosis in intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma patients after curative resection

As a rare type of liver cancer, intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) has become an increasingly important malignancy and continues to present significant therapeutic challenges. Since coagulopathy is associated with poor prognosis in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and prognostic factors of ICC after curative resection were still not clear, we aim to analyze the characteristics of ICC patients with coagulopathy and its correlation to prognosis. From January 2000 to June 2011, 541 ICC patients, after curative resection, were enrolled in our study. Survival curves were depicted by the Kaplan-Meier method and analyzed by the log-rank test. The Cox proportional hazard regression was adopted for multivariate survival analysis. Student's t test was performed to analyze the difference between the coagulopathy group and the normal group. The correlation between coagulation parameters and prognosis was also evaluated. The incidence rate of at least one coagulation parameter abnormality was 22.6% (122/541) while PT was the most common factor (8.87%, 48/541). The one-year survival rate of patients with coagulopathy was significantly lower than that of patients with normal coagulation (p < 0.01). In a univariate analysis, patients with prolonged PT was associated with shortened DFS (p < 0.05). Meanwhile, PT was negatively correlated with pre-albumin level. TNM stage, CA19-9, GGT, and pre-albumin level were independent prognostic factors of DFS in the multivariate analysis. In conclusion, the incidence rate of coagulopathy of ICC patients is lower than HCC patients. Prolonged PT, advanced TNM stage, low pre-albumin level, and high CA19-9 and GGT level were correlated with high recurrence rate and poor prognosis.