[Therapeutic advances in the management of biliary tract carcinoma]

Abstract

Cancers of the bile ducts or cholangiocarcinomas are a rare entity whose incidence is increasing in France. Surgical resection of cholangiocarcinoma remains the only curative therapy. Adjuvant therapy with capecitabine at a fixed dose of 1250mg/m² twice daily from day 1 to day 14 (21-day cycle) for a 6 months period is now the standard of care after curative surgery. At a metastatic stage, the reference treatment consists of the combination of a platinum salt in addition to gemcitabine. No biomarker has been identified to predict the response to chemotherapy. DNA sequencing of the tumor can identify specific tumor mutations in bile duct cancers that are the focus of targeted studies.