The most commonly used method of Western medicine to treat bile duct cancer

When it comes to cancer, the first treatment that comes to mind is probably chemotherapy, but the specific details of how it is treated are not very clear. We only know that the treatment process is very uncomfortable and will drain the patient's energy, but it is not 100% curable or controllable. Today, let's talk about how Western medicine treats bile duct cancer.

1. Surgery

The treatment principle of bile duct cancer is: surgical resection is the main treatment for early cases, followed by radiotherapy and chemotherapy to consolidate and improve the effect of surgical treatment. For advanced cases that cannot be resected, biliary drainage surgery should be performed to control bile duct infection, improve liver function, reduce complications, prolong life, and improve quality of life.

2. Radiation therapy

Surgical resection is the only radical treatment for cholangiocarcinoma. Adjuvant radiotherapy can only improve the patient's survival rate. For unresectable and locally metastatic cholangiocarcinoma, radiotherapy can improve the patient's symptoms and prolong life after effective biliary drainage. However, cholangiocarcinoma has always been considered a tumor that is not sensitive to radiation. The median survival of radiotherapy is generally reported to be 9 to 12 months.

3. Chemotherapy

Cholangiocarcinoma is not sensitive to chemotherapy and is less sensitive to chemotherapy than other gastrointestinal tumors such as colon cancer. However, chemotherapy may relieve the symptoms caused by cholangiocarcinoma, improve the quality of life of patients, and may also prolong survival.

Surgical radical resection is the only chance for long-term survival of bile duct cancer. The treatment principle of bile duct cancer is to mainly perform surgical resection for resectable cases, and to cooperate with radiotherapy and chemotherapy after surgery to consolidate and improve the effect of surgical treatment. For advanced cases that cannot be resected, biliary drainage surgery should be performed to relieve bile duct obstruction, control bile duct infection, improve liver function, reduce complications, prolong life, and improve quality of life. Biliary cancer surgery is complex and difficult, and is the most challenging surgery in abdominal surgery. The surgical method mainly depends on the location of bile duct cancer.