Guidelines for Diagnosis and Treatment

August 2012 – UK

In 2012, the ‘Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Cholangiocarcinoma in the UK’ originally published in 2002, were updated by a group of multi-disciplinary gastrointestinal specialists¹.

In these evidence based, updated Guidelines, the specialists based their work on a comprehensive review of the most recent literature at that time, and also used data from randomised controlled trials, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, cohort, prospective and retrospective studies.  The intention was to bring consistency and improvement in the management of cholangiocarcinoma from first suspicion through to diagnosis and subsequent treatment.

The Guidelines were submitted to the British Society of Gastroenterology (BSG) mid 2011, and circulated for peer review nationally. Also, because the BSG wanted to have patient input, in September 2011 AMMF was asked to review the Guidelines from a layman/patient’s perspective, and AMMF’s contribution is acknowledged in the introductory paragraph.

UK guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of cholangiocarcinoma (2012)

Following approval by the British Society of Gastroenterology, the Guidelines were published by Gut in August 2012.

It is hoped that these Guidelines are now known to all specialist doctors and nurses in the fields of hepatobiliary medicine, endoscopy and surgery, hepatology/GI physicians and surgeons, and GI cancer specialists.

These Guidelines remain the most comprehensive overview of the situation regarding the diagnosis and treatment of cholangiocarcinoma in the UK today.

To read the UK guidelines in full, click here

April 2014 – International

International guidelines for the diagnosis and management of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma

In April 2014, an international panel of cholangiocarcinoma specialists[sup]2[/sup] from five countries, including Dr Shahid Khan and Dr John Bridgewater from the UK, collaborated on producing international “Guidelines for the diagnosis and management of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma”.

The coordinating centre, on behalf of ILCA (The International Liver Cancer Association) was the US Mayo Clinic, and these guidelines were published in the Journal of Hepatology.

To read the international Guidelines on ICC in full, click here

The worldwide incidence of cholangiocarcinoma as shown in ‘Guidelines for the diagnosis and management of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma’

“Fig. 1. Incidence of cholangiocarcinoma worldwide where reported”