Staging Laparoscopy is Unnecessary in the Pre-surgical Work-up of Patients with Peri-Hilar Cholangiocarcinoma (PH-CCA)

Abstract

Introduction: The majority of patients with peri-hilar cholangiocarcinoma (PH-CCA) are not candidates for surgery either because of co-morbidity or locally advanced/metastatic cancer. Staging laparoscopy is advocated to reduce non-therapeutic laparotomy. However, modern high-resolution cross-sectional imaging can effectively identify patients with metastatic disease or bi-lobar vascular involvement. This series reports outcome in patients evaluated for surgery without staging laparoscopy.