Does having bile duct cancer mean death?

Does having bile duct cancer mean death? I believe that many patients with bile duct cancer often feel hopeless when they hear such news. After all, not many cancers are truly cured, but the number of deaths from cancer is very high. So it is normal for patients to have concerns in this regard. So does having bile duct cancer mean death? To answer this question, let's take a look at the mortality rate of bile duct cancer.

In the past two decades, the incidence of bile duct cancer has shown a clear upward trend. In Japan, where bile duct cancer is prevalent, the mortality rate for male patients has increased from 3.3/100,000 in 1972 to 5.3/100,000 in 1992, and for female patients from 3.5/100,000 to 5.3/100,000. The mortality rate has also increased in countries such as Sweden, Finland, and Italy. However, the mortality rate has decreased in women in countries such as Israel, the Netherlands, the United States, Canada, and the Federal Republic of Germany.

In some countries and regions, the incidence and mortality of bile duct cancer have significant regional differences. The mortality rate of bile duct cancer is higher in the southern mountainous areas and southwestern regions of the United States, especially in Mexican American communities. The incidence rate in northern Japan is higher than in southern Japan. In the European Community countries, the high-incidence area of ​​bile duct cancer extends from the central part of the Federal Republic of Germany to the north in a belt-like manner, and the mortality rate of female patients is significantly higher than that of male patients; while western France, southern Italy and Great Britain are low-incidence areas of bile duct cancer.