Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2017 May;11(5):439-449.
doi: 10.1080/17474124.2017.1309290. Epub 2017 Mar 29.

Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma: current management and emerging therapies

Amir A Rahnemai-Azar  1 , Allison B Weisbrod  2 , Mary Dillhoff  2 , Carl Schmidt  2 , Timothy M Pawlik  2
Affiliations
Review

Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma: current management and emerging therapies

Amir A Rahnemai-Azar et al. Expert Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2017 May.

Abstract

Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (iCCA) is a malignancy with an increasing incidence and a high-case fatality. While surgery offers the best hope at long-term survival, only one-third of tumors are amenable to surgical resection at the time of the diagnosis. Unfortunately, conventional chemotherapy offers limited survival benefit in the management of unresectable or metastatic disease. Recent advances in understanding the molecular pathogenesis of iCCA and the use of next-generation sequencing techniques have provided a chance to identify 'target-able' molecular aberrations. These novel molecular therapies offer the promise to personalize therapy for patients with iCCA and, in turn, improve the outcomes of patients. Area covered: We herein review the current management options for iCCA with a focus on defining both established and emerging therapies. Expert commentary: Surgical resection remains as an only hope for cure in iCCA patients. However, frequently the diagnosis is delayed till advanced stages when surgery cannot be offered; signifying the urge for specific diagnostic tumor biomarkers and targeted therapies. New advances in genomic profiling have contributed to a better understanding of the landscape of molecular alterations in iCCA and offer hope for the development of novel diagnostic biomarkers and targeted therapies.

Keywords: Biliary tract cancer; genomics; intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma; molecular pathogenesis; molecular targeted therapies; systemic therapy.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources