Resectable intrahepatic and hilar cholangiocarcinoma: Is margin status associated with survival?

Prior studies evaluating the effect of margin status on clinical outcome in patients undergoing resection for intrahepatic and extrahepatic hilar cholangiocarcinoma include small numbers of patients with histologically positive margins. The value of margin negative resection in these cases remains unclear.

We queried the National Cancer Database to identify patients undergoing resection for clinical stage I to III intrahepatic and extrahepatic hilar between 2004 and 2015. Patients receiving neoadjuvant therapy and those having <3 lymph nodes examined were excluded. Patients undergoing positive resection were 1:1 propensity matched to those undergoing negative resection. Kaplan-Meier methods were used to compare overall survival for the matched cohorts.

In the study, 3,618 patients met the inclusion criteria, and 3,018 (83.4%) underwent negative resection; 600 (16.6%) positive resection. Patients undergoing negative resection had smaller tumors (2.97 ± 0.07 cm vs 3.49 ± 0.15 cm), were less likely to have stage 3 disease (16.7% vs 25.7%) and to receive adjuvant radiation (27.1% vs 45.7%) and chemotherapy (49.4% vs 61.0%) than those undergoing positive resection (all P < .05). On comparison of matched cohorts, patients undergoing negative resection had longer median overall survival (24.5 ± 0.02 vs 19.1 ± 0.02 months) and higher rates of 5-year overall survival (24.5% vs 16.7%) than those undergoing positive resection (P < .01).

In patients presenting with resectable intrahepatic and extrahepatic hilar, negative resection is associated with improved overall survival. Extended resections performed in an effort to clear surgical margins are warranted in patients fit for such procedures.