2022 Volume 36 Issue 2 Pages 176-184
Systemic chemotherapy has been developed and applied not only to the treatment of unresectable disease, but also as postoperative adjuvant therapy in patients with biliary tract cancer (BTC). Gemcitabine plus cisplatin (GC) has been used globally as the standard chemotherapy for unresectable BTC. In Japan, gemcitabine plus S-1 and GC plus S-1 have also been demonstrated to yield survival benefit in phase III studies, and they are recommended as alternative treatments for unresectable BTC.
Based on the results of a phase III trial conducted in the UK, capecitabine has begun to be used as adjuvant therapy after surgery. In Japan, S-1 is currently under investigation in a phase III trial as postoperative adjuvant therapy.
Immune checkpoint inhibitors and various compounds based on genomic profiling, such as IDH and FGFR2, have also been investigated. Improvements in the survivals of patients with advanced BTC would be expected with the developments of these treatments in the future.
