Background: Current therapeutic options in diffuse metastatic cholangiocarcinoma (CCC) are limited with unsatisfactory results. We evaluated the efficacy of regional chemotherapy (RegCTx) using arterial infusion (AI), hypoxic stop-flow abdominal perfusion (HAP), upper abdominal perfusion (UAP) and isolated-thoracic perfusion (ITP) in 36 patients with metastatic perihilar and intrahepatic CCC.
Methods: Ten patients had previously undergone a liver resection and in 14 patients the previous systemic chemotherapy (sCTx) approach had failed. A total of 189 RegCTx cycles (90 AI, 74 UAP, 13 HAP and 12 ITP) were applied using cisplatin alone or with Adriamycin and Mitomycin C. A minimum of three cycles were applied in 75% of the study population. The response was evaluated using RECIST criteria with MediasStat 28.5.14. Mortality, morbidity and survival analysis were performed using a prospective follow-up database and SPSS-28.0.
Results: No procedure related mortality occurred. The overall morbidity was 56% and dominated by lymph fistulas at the inguinal access site. No grade III or IV haematological complication occurred. The overall response rate was 38% partial response, 41% stable and 21% progressive disease. Median overall survival was 23 months (95%CI 16.3-29.7). The RegCTx specific survival was 12 months (95%CI 6.5-17.5) in completely therapy naive patients but also in patients who had failed a sCTx attempt previously.
Conclusion: RegCTx is feasible, safe and superior to the current proposed therapeutic options in metastatic CCC. The role of RegCTx should be determined in a larger cohort of diffuse metastatic CCC patients but also at early stages especially in initially not resectable but potentially resectable patients.
Keywords: arterial infusion; cholangiocarcinoma; hypoxic abdominal perfusion; metastasis; regional chemotherapy; survival.