BILE DUCT CANCERS. IN THE DOCTOR'S OFFICE...

Discover a comprehensive guide to the diagnosis and treatment of bile duct cancers. This publication is an invaluable source of knowledge for doctors and specialists who want to expand their knowledge of this rare but increasingly diagnosed disease. Get practical tips and the latest information to help you effectively manage the diagnosis and therapy of your patients.

• Detailed discussion of radiological and endoscopic diagnostics
• Practical tips on clinical symptoms
• Up-to-date information on targeted therapies and immunotherapy
• Brief presentation of basic issues related to treatment
• Description of molecular disorders underlying the transformation of cholangiocytes
• Tips for quick and proper diagnostics

Bile duct cancers pose a challenge to modern oncology due to the increasing incidence and lack of characteristic clinical symptoms at an early stage. Early diagnosis is crucial for the implementation of effective surgical treatment, which gives hope for long-term clinical benefits. In the advanced stage of the disease, systemic therapy based on chemotherapy combined with cisplatin and gemcitabine can prolong the patient's survival time.

In recent years, great hopes have been placed on therapies combining classical chemotherapy with immunotherapy, based on immune checkpoint inhibitors such as durvalumab or pembrolizumab. These innovative treatment methods allow for effective stimulation of the immune system and achieving long-term responses in selected patients. In addition, new targeted therapies, aimed at disorders of the function of proteins IDH, FGFR2, HER2, RET, BRAF and others, resulting from mutations in the sequence of the genes encoding them, offer the opportunity to improve the clinical prognosis of patients with bile duct cancers.

This guide presents in a concise manner the basic issues regarding the diagnosis and treatment of bile duct cancers. The authors hope that the presented content will help doctors in quick and proper diagnostics of their patients, which will allow for the detection of cancer changes at a stage enabling the implementation of surgical treatment. In addition, the description of molecular disorders underlying the transformation of cholangiocytes will contribute to a wider use of molecular diagnostics and targeted therapies in patients with bile duct cancers. This publication is a valuable source of knowledge for every doctor who wants to effectively fight bile duct cancers.