Current focus issues in diagnosis and treatment of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma / 国际外科学杂志

ABSTRACT

Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) is a highly malignant liver tumor with strong invasion and poor prognosis. ICC originates from the bile duct and locates in the liver, so it is classified as either primary liver cancer or cholangiocarcinoma, which the classification is indeterminate and the pathological typing is still debatable. The mechanism of ICC induced by many high-risk factors is still unclear. There are no characteristic manifestations in early symptom and no specific tumor markers, and the diagnosis of ICC mainly depends on imaging examination, which enhanced CT and MRI are the most important evaluation method. TNM staging of ICC is of great significance to guide the treatment, nevertheless, the division of T stage updated by AJCC 8th Edition is still controversial. Radical surgery is the only way to cure ICC currently, but there are still many controversies on definition of R0 resection and the scope of lymph node dissection. The application of local therapy and the rapid development of immunity and targeted therapy bring new hope for the transformation therapy of locally advanced patients, however, the efficacy needs to be verified by multi center large sample clinical studies. To grasp the current focus issues in diagnosis and treatment of ICC timely will be an important direction of basic and clinical research of ICC in the future.