Adjuvant chemotherapy improves oncological outcomes of resectable intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma: A meta-analysis.

Abstract

Objective To define the role of adjuvant chemotherapy in the management of resectable intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) by performing a meta-analysis. Summary background data Oncological benefit of adjuvant chemotherapy in resectable ICC remains controversial, high-level evidence in such context is lacking.

Method A comprehensive search using Pubmed, EMbase, and Web of Science was performed from inception to October 2018. Studies compared the survival of patients receiving adjuvant chemotherapy versus surgery alone were included. Data were analyzed using random effect model. Quality of each study and presence of publication bias were assessed by Newcastle-Ottawa score (NOS) and funnel plot with Egger test respectively.

Results The present meta-analysis included 15 studies (all were retrospective series) and 5060 patients. Adjuvant chemotherapy was administered either intravenously or intra-arterially in the form of trans-arterial chemo-embolization (TACE). The average NOS for the included studies was 6.5. Pooled analysis of the included studies demonstrated significant advantage in the adjuvant chemotherapy group (HR 0.66, 0.55-079, P

Conclusion Adjuvant chemotherapy is associated with improved overall survival and should be considered in patients with ICC following curative resection and in particular to patients with advance disease.