[Carcinoma of the common bile duct]

The clinical courses of 18 patients with extrahepatic bile duct carcinoma operated on between 1960 and 1979 are reviewed retrospectively. The preoperative and intraoperative diagnostic difficulties due to marked peritumor sclerosis are pointed out. The location of the lesion appeared to bear the most important relationship to prognosis: the lesions located in the upper and middle thirds of the extrahepatic biliary system are often invasive of adjacent vascular structures and, hence, unresectable, necessitating a proximal biliary-enteric anastomosis or intubation to alleviate jaundice and pruritus. A more aggressive operative approach, however, will result in a higher survival rate, as shown in personal experience for lower third lesions resected by Whipple's procedure.