Prognosis and Circumferential Margin in Patients with Resected Hilar Cholangiocarcinoma

Background Resection margin status is a known prognosticator in patients who undergo resection for hilar cholangiocarcinoma. However, the influence of an isolated positive circumferential margin on clinical outcome is unclear. Methods Patients with resected de novo hilar cholangiocarcinoma from two European hepatobiliary centres (Medical University of Vienna and Aintree University Hospital, 2006–2016) were classified according to resection margin status (negative, surgically positive, isolated circumferentially positive) and investigated with respect to overall survival (OS), recurrence-free survival (RFS) and recurrence pattern. Results Eighty-three (48 male/35 female) patients were enrolled. The median age was 64 years (range 33–80). The median follow-up was 21.7 months (range 0.3–92.4). Forty (48%) patients had negative resection margins, 25 (30%) had an isolated positive circumferential margin and 18 (22%) had a positive surgical margin. The 5-year OS rates in patients with negative, isolated positive circumferential and positive surgical resection margins were 47%, 33% and 0%, respectively. Median OS was 45.6, 32.7 and 14.5 months, respectively (log rank, P = 0.011). Upon multivariable Cox regression analysis, resection margin status and lymph node status remained statistically significant ( P < 0.05). No difference with respect to RFS and recurrence pattern was found between the groups ( P > 0.05). Conclusion Our data show that these three resection margin types were associated with different clinical outcomes. Circumferential margin status may therefore serve as a novel prognostic biomarker.