Diagnosis and management of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma

The worldwide incidence of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma(ICC) keeps increasing in recent years.The biological characteristics of ICC are significantly different from that of hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC) and extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma, and often remains asymptomatic until an advanced stage. Thus, regular screening of the population with high risk factors is essential for early diagnosis and timely treatment of ICC. The current ICC staging systems provide helpful clinical references for the evaluation of prognosis, but there are still some argues about which impact factors should be included in the staging system. Therefore, large-scale prospective studies should be carried out so as to amend the current staging system. Multidisciplinary treatments mainly with surgical resection are an optimal treatment method for ICC. Radical resection combined with lymphadenectomy may improve the prognosis of ICC patients. For those who have losen surgical treatment chance or suffered recurrent ICC,non-surgical treatment methods may also prolong the survival time of ICC patients.