Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 5, 2025
Author Spotlight: Investigating Immune Cell Dynamics in the Tumor Microenvironment — Challenges and Innovations in Cancer Prognosis
Published on: April 12, 2024
Biliary tract cancers have distinct epidemiological patterns and clinical characteristics according to tumour site
François Ghiringhelli1, Valérie Jooste2, Sylvain Manfredi3
1Department of Medical Oncology, Georges François Leclerc Cancer Centre - UNICANCER, Dijon, France; INSERM, UMR 1231, CADIR, Dijon, France; University of Burgundy, Dijon, France.
Background:
Little is known about the epidemiology of biliary tract cancers over the last decade. We investigated trends in incidence, treatment and prognosis of biliary tract cancers according to anatomic site.
Methods:
714 biliary tract cancers recorded between 2012 and 2019 in the French population-based cancer registry of Burgundy were included. Trends in world age-standardized incidence were depicted using Poisson regression.
Results:
Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma accounted for 40% of biliary tract cancer. Half of the patients were older than 75 years at diagnosis. Incidence of biliary tract cancer did not vary over time, except a slight increase in intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma in men and a decrease in the ampulla in both sexes. Among non-metastatic patients, the proportion who underwent R0 resection ranged from 15% for intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma to 58% for ampulla cancer (p < 0.001). Age, performance status and hospital type were associated with resection. Among unresected patients, 45% received chemotherapy. Older age, jaundice, increasing performance status and comorbidities index negatively affected chemotherapy administration. Net survival was higher for ampulla than for other sites, regardless of patient and treatment characteristics.
Conclusion:
Biliary tract cancers present different patterns in incidence. The ampulla site should be considered separately in clinical trials due to its better outcomes.
