Open AccessIntra-hepatic and extra-hepatic cholangiocarcinoma: New insight into epidemiology and risk factors
Author(s) -
Vincenzo Cardinale,
R. Semeraro,
A. Torrice,
Maria Chiara Gatto,
Cristipoli,
Maria Consiglia Bragazzi,
Raffaele Gentile,
Domenico Alvaro
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
world journal of gastrointestinal oncology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.924
H-Index - 26
ISSN - 1948-5204
DOI - 10.4251/wjgo.v2.i11.407
Subject(s) - medicine , epidemiology , incidence (geometry) , bioinformatics , gastroenterology , biology , physics , optics
Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) is a malignant tumour that arises from biliary epithelium at any portion of the biliary tree. CCA is currently classified as intra-hepatic or extra-hepatic CCA (EH-CCA). Recent evidences suggest that intra-hepatic CCA (IH-CCA) and EH-CCA are biologically different cancers, giving further support to a number of recent epidemiological studies showing large differences in terms of incidence, mortality and risk factors. The purpose of this manuscript is to review recent literature dealing with the descriptive epidemiology and risk factors of CCA with a special effort to compare IH- with EH-CCA.