Biliary Tract Cancers

In the United States, an estimated 20,000 new cases of liver and biliary tract cancer are diagnosed annually.1 Biliary tract cancer is the second most common primary hepatobiliary cancer, after hepatocellular cancer. Approximately 7500 new cases of biliary tract cancer are diagnosed per year; about 5000 of these are gallbladder cancer, and between 2000 and 3000 are bile-duct cancers.1 Biliary tract cancers have traditionally been divided into cancers of the gallbladder, the extrahepatic bile ducts, and the ampulla of Vater, whereas intrahepatic bile-duct cancers have been classified as primary liver cancers.2 The term "cholangiocarcinoma" was originally intended to refer only . . .