Defining the Benefit of Adjuvant Therapy Following Resection for Intrahepatic Cholangiocarcinoma

Background: Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) is rare but is increasing in incidence. While hepatectomy can be curative, the benefit of adjuvant therapy (AT) remains unclear. We utilized the National Cancer Data Base (NCDB) to isolate predictors of overall survival, describe the national pattern of AT administration, and identify characteristics of patients who experience a survival benefit from AT following resection for ICC. Methods: Patients who were diagnosed with ICC between 1998 and 2006 and underwent surgical resection were identified through the NCDB. Kaplan–Meier and Cox regression analyses evaluated differences in overall survival between patients who received AT and those who did not. Results: Overall, 638 patients who underwent surgery for ICC were identified. Multivariate Cox regression analysis identified positive lymph nodes, unexamined lymph nodes, positive margins, and lack of AT as predictors of decreased overall survival; 28.1 % of patients had positive margins while 20.1 % had positive nodes. These patients, as well as those who were younger and had fewer co-morbid conditions, were most likely to receive AT. After adjusting for other prognostic variables, patients were found to significantly benefit from AT if they had positive lymph nodes [chemotherapy: hazard ratio (HR) 0.54, p = 0.0365; chemoradiation: HR 0.50, p = 0.005] or positive margins (chemotherapy: HR 0.44, p = 0.0016; chemoradiation: HR 0.57, p = 0.0039). Conclusions: Positive lymph nodes and positive margins were associated with poor survival after resection for ICC. After controlling for other prognostic factors, AT was associated with significant survival benefits among patients with positive nodes or positive margins.