Outcomes of resection for solitary ≤5 cm intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma

Resection remains the treatment of choice achieving 5-year survival rates of 22% to 40%. The aim of this analysis was to examine the outcomes of patients with solitary ≤5 cm intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma.

A retrospective chart review was performed on 123 patients undergoing resection for primary intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma from 1995 to 2013. Group 1 included patients with asymptomatic solitary intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma measuring ≤5 cm.

Group 1 (n = 33, 27%) had a greater rate of underlying liver disease, cirrhosis, minor resection, favorable pathologic features including decreased rate of perineural invasion, vascular invasion, lymph node involvement, and satellite nodules (P < .05). Factors associated with overall poor outcome were patients in Group 2 (P=.025), positive margin (P=.04), presence of satellite nodules (P = .008), and multinodularity (P=.058). Factors associated with recurrence in Group 1 were presence of satellite nodules (P=.004), and tumor size ≥4 cm (P=.031). Factors associated with decreased survival in Group 1 was transfusion requirement (P = 0.018). The 5-year recurrence and survival rates were (39% vs 67%) and (71% vs 53%) in Group 1 versus Group 2, respectively (P=.111).

Resection of solitary intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma ≤5 cm can achieve 5-year survival rates up to 71%. Results were comparable to those of patients undergoing transplantation for hepatocellular cancer within the Milan criteria.