BACKGROUND: Hilar cholangiocarcinoma (HC) is an adenocarcinoma of the extrahepatic biliary tree arising from the main left or right hepatic ducts or their confluence. This tumor is still considered to be difficult to treat or to cure.
DATA SOURCES: We reviewed the medical literature on HC. Relevant and updated information on this tumor was analyzed in a concise and easy-to-read manner. The article is not intended to be a systematic review, but an extensive search was conducted on PubMed and MEDLINE using the keywords "hilar cholangiocarcinoma" and "Klatskin tumor" until July 2011.
RESULTS: The selection and the timing of management options for patients with HC are determined by the degree of certainty of the diagnosis, the general condition of the patients, the underlying liver function and the stage of the disease. Current treatment of HC can be divided into curative and palliative treatment. For the curative treatment, local excision should only be used on small tumors which are confined to the bile duct wall and Bismuth I papillary carcinoma. Partial hepatectomy should be combined with caudate lobe resection and porta-hepatis lymph node dissection. The results of these major resections can be improved with portal vein embolization, and staging laparoscopy and laparoscopic ultrasound. The role of preoperative biliary drainage is controversial. Autotransplantation for HC gave disappointing results while the Mayo Protocol of chemoradiation for selecting patients with unresectable HC for orthotopic liver transplantation has been widely accepted. Palliative treatment included bypass surgery, endoscopic or percutaneous stenting, photodynamic therapy, intraluminal brachytherapy, and external radiation and systemic therapy.
CONCLUSIONS: Adequate surgery with R0 resection should be the main goal of treatment. For patients with unresectable HC, treatment aims to improve the quality and quantity of their survival.