Bile Duct Cancer Treatments

Treatment Options For Bile Duct Cancer

Every patient is different, with different needs. City of Hope treats you as a valued individual. Our entire team works together to bring you precise, state-of-the-art surgical, radiation, drug and other therapy options that will deliver the best outcome for you. We support you every step of the way, both during treatment and long after, helping you and your loved ones manage your recovery.

Highlights of City of Hope's bile duct cancer treatment program include:

Surgery

Often performed in conjunction with chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy, surgery is a common treatment for bile duct cancer. When possible, City of Hope surgeons will take minimally invasive approaches to remove bile duct cancer such as laparoscopic surgery (using miniaturized operation instruments inserted through a thin tube) and robotically assisted surgery (using a specially designed robot equipped with miniature surgical tools and advanced imaging systems, giving the surgeon superior visualization and greater control at the tumor site.

Drug Therapy

Bile duct cancer is often treated with systemic chemotherapy (anti-cancer medicines that kill all fast-growing cells in the body), given orally or by injection into the vein.

A new development in bile duct cancer treatment is hepatic arterial infusion. This delivery method uses a tiny pump implanted under the skin in the lower abdomen to supply cancer-killing drugs directly into the main blood vessel entering the liver and surrounding organs, including the bile duct. This direct method of chemotherapy delivery can be more effective against bile duct cancer.

Radiation Therapy

Radiation treatments use high-energy waves such as X-rays, gamma rays and charged particles to treat bile duct cancer. At City of Hope, we use precise radiation delivery techniques. Using advanced imaging techniques, our radiation team can accurately locate and target a bile duct tumor for treatment, ensuring maximum impact against cancer cells while minimizing exposure to surrounding normal tissues. These techniques include respiratory gating and four-dimensional computed tomography, both of which account for organ and tumor movements during breathing.

Clinical Trials

In addition to standard chemotherapy regimens, City of Hope patients have the opportunity to enroll in clinical trials testing new drugs (or new drug combinations) that may be more effective against bile duct cancer.