Carcinoma of the middle bile duct:Is bile duct segmental resection appropriate?

AIM:To compare survival between bile duct segmental resection(BDSR)and pancreaticoduodenectomy(PD) for treating distal bile duct cancers. METHODS:Retrospective analysis was conducted for 45 patients in a BDSR group and for 149 patients in a PD group. RESULTS:The T-stage(P<0.001),lymph node invasion (P=0.010)and tumor differentiation(P=0.005)were significant prognostic factors in the BDSR group.The 3-and 5-year overall survival rates for the BDSR group and PD group were 51.7%and 36.6%,respectively and 46.0%and 38.1%,respectively(P=0.099).The BDSR group and PD group did not show any significant difference in survival when this was adjusted for the TNM stage.The 3-and 5-year survival rates were: stageⅠa[BDSR(100.0%and 100.0%)vs PD(76.9% and 68.4%)(P=0.226)];stageⅠb[BDSR(55.8% and 32.6%)vs PD(59.3%and 59.3%)(P=0.942)]; stageⅡb[BDSR(19.2%and 19.2%)vs PD(31.9%and 14.2%)(P=0.669)]. CONCLUSION:BDSR can be justified as an alternative radical operation for patients with middle bile duct inselected patients with no adjacent organ invasion and resection margin is negative.