Intrahepatic bile duct cancer is a malignant cancer that occurs in the bile duct, on the part that is inside the liver. This is a rare cancer that occurs in elderly people, usually over the age of 60. In comparison to the extrahepatic bile duct cancer, the occurrence of this cancer is less common. Men are more prone to developing this cancer than women, and the survival rates are very low because the cancer is usually inoperable.
Like other cancers, the exact intrahepatic bile duct cancer causes are also not clearly known. However, doctors believe that certain liver cancers may increase the risk of developing this cancer in the later years of life.
Some of the most common risk factors of developing intrahepatic bile duct cancers include:
These diseases only increase the risk of developing both intrahepatic and extrahepatic bile duct cancers. However, this does not mean that having any one of these diseases is necessarily going to trigger intrahepatic bile duct cancer.
The symptoms of intrahepatic bile duct cancer are almost exactly like those of extrahepatic bile duct cancers. Some of the most common of these symptoms include:
When considering intrahepatic bile duct cancer treatment, doctors follow similar treatment as for other cancers. The most common treatment is surgery. However, if the cancer has advanced to a later stage, a surgery alone is not helpful as the cancer is largely inoperable. In such a case, other treatments such as chemotherapy and radiation therapy may be tried. In advanced cases, where the cancer has metastasized, doctors recommend palliative care and treatment to improve the patient’s quality of life. Since intrahepatic bile duct cancer surgery is not always possible in the case of intrahepatic bile duct cancer, the survival rates are rather low. Fatality rates are high in this kind of cancer with the highest mortality rates found amongst patients older than 75 years of age. Even if the cancer is removed, patients have a lifetime risk of a recurrence.
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