For some people treatment can destroy the cancer.
Current treatments for bile duct cancer.
Surgical treatment for bile duct cancer.
Whenever possible surgery is the main treatment for bile duct cancers.
When possible doctors try to remove as much of the cancer as they can.
For very small bile duct cancers this involves removing part of the bile duct and joining the cut ends.
During pdt a doctor gives an inactive form of a drug and then directs a special light at the tumor in the bile duct.
This type of cancer treatment is also called biotherapy or biologic therapy.
Areas of research for bile duct cancer include.
Substances made by the body or made in a laboratory are used to boost direct or restore the body s natural defenses against cancer.
You may need regular doses of chemotherapy radiation or other treatments to keep it in check.
For more advanced bile duct cancers nearby liver tissue pancreas tissue or lymph nodes may be removed as well.
In view of their modes and patterns of infiltration the best treatment for hilar bile duct cancer is extrahepatic bile duct resection plus hepatectomy and regional lymphadenectomy and the best treatment for middle and distal bile duct cancer is pancreatoduodenectomy.
What s new in bile duct cancer research.
In others it may never go away entirely.
Radiation therapy with advanced radiation therapy delivery systems radiation oncologists are better able to target difficult to reach tumors in the bile duct and direct higher radiation doses at bile duct cancer cells while reducing exposure to normal healthy tissue.
Resectable cancers those that doctors believe can be removed completely by surgery based on the results of imaging tests and other tests.
One example is using a different.
Researchers are looking at better ways to use radiation therapy.
Because of this doctors generally divide bile duct cancers into.
It offers the only realistic chance for a cure.