Objective: To evaluate the impact of preoperative biliary drainage on surgical morbidity in hilar cholangiocarcinoma patients underwent surgery.
Methods: One hundred and eleven consecutive patients with hilar cholangiocarcinoma whose serum total bilirubin (TBIL) level > 85 micromol/L and underwent surgery in the period from June 1998 to August 2007 were enrolled. There were 67 male and 44 female patients, aged from 26 to 82 years old with a mean of 56 years old.
Results: Fifty-five patients underwent preoperative biliary drainage with a mean of 11.4 d of drainage period (drainage group), the other (n = 56) were the non-drainage group. The preoperative TBIL level of drainage group was (154 +/- 69) micromol/L, which was significantly lower than the value of pre-drainage (256 +/- 136) micromol/L (P = 0.000) and the value of non-drainage group (268 +/- 174) micromol/L (P = 0.005). ALT and GGT levels could be lowered by preoperative biliary drainage. The postoperative complications of these two groups were comparable (36.3% vs. 28.6%, P = 0.381). Four patients in drainage group and 5 patients in non-drainage group died of liver failure. Multivariate logistic regression indicated that hepatectomy (OR = 0.284, P = 0.003) was the independent risk factor associated with postoperative morbidity. Bismuth-Corlette classification (OR = 0.211, P = 0.028) was the independent risk factor linked to postoperative mortality.
Conclusions: Preoperative biliary drainage could alleviate liver injury due to hyperbilirubin, but it could not decrease the surgical morbidity and postoperative mortality. Concomitant hepatectomy and Bismuth-Corlette classification were independent risk factors linked to surgical risks.