A review of systemic therapy in biliary tract carcinoma.

Biliary tract carcinoma (BTC) has a poor prognosis and is increasing in incidence. Although surgery, chemotherapy and other treatment modalities have improved, surgery remains the only potential curative treatment and is appropriate for only those few patients who present with localized, resectable disease. However, for the majority of patients, unresectable disease is evident at diagnosis and about 95% of patients die within 10 years, despite the majority receiving chemotherapy.