RESUMO
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To report the experience of surgical resection of Bismuth-Corlette type I and II hilar cholangiocarcinoma.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>From January 1998 and January 2008, 52 cases of Bismuth-Corlette type I and II hilar cholangiocarcinoma were operated on. The clinical data and long-term outcome of the patients was retrospectively analyzed.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Of the 52 cases, 44 cases (84.6%) received operation, 28 patients underwent radical resection (63.6%) and 16 patients (36.4%) underwent palliative resection.Seven patients were resected on caudate lobe and other section and lobe of the liver; among them, 2 patients received combined portal vein resection and 4 underwent combined hepatic artery resection respectively. Eleven cases developed postoperative complications and another one died in hospital. The median survival was 33.2 months in radical resection group, and 1-, 3-, 5-year survival rate was 82.6%, 47.8%, 34.7%, respectively, which was significant greater than those in the palliative resection group (41.6%, 16.6%, 8.3%, respectively) (P < 0.05). The median survival was 16.7 months in the palliative resection group.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The radical resection is still the best treatment for Bismuth-Corlette type I and II hilar cholangiocarcinoma. Intraoperative pathology for resection margin, and combined liver resection, portal vein resection and hepatic artery resection can help improve the radical resection rate.</p>