What Is Cholangiocarcinoma?
Cholangiocarcinoma (bile duct cancer) is a rare cancer that occurs when cells in a bile duct grow abnormally and out of control.
What Are Symptoms of Cholangiocarcinoma?
Cholangiocarcinoma (bile duct cancer) often does not cause symptoms early on and the cancer is often found in later stages.
When symptoms of cholangiocarcinoma do occur, they may include:
- Yellow skin and eyes (jaundice) (most common symptom)
- Itching
- Light-colored/greasy stools
- Dark urine
- Abdominal pain
- Loss of appetite
- Weight loss
- Fever
- Nausea
- Vomiting
Cholangiocarcinoma is rare. These symptoms are more likely to be caused by something other than cholangiocarcinoma.
What Causes Cholangiocarcinoma?
The exact cause of cholangiocarcinoma (bile duct cancer) is unknown but it is believed to be due to genetic changes.
Risk factors for developing cholangiocarcinoma include:
- Certain diseases of the liver or bile ducts
- Primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC)
- Bile duct stones
- Choledochal cyst disease
- Liver fluke infections
- Abnormalities where the bile duct and pancreatic duct normally meet
- Cirrhosis of the liver
- Infection with hepatitis B virus or hepatitis C virus
- Polycystic liver disease
- Caroli syndrome
- Inflammatory bowel disease
- Ulcerative colitis
- Crohn’s disease
- Older age: most people diagnosed with cholangiocarcinoma are in their 60s or 70s
- Ethnicity and geography
- The risk is highest among Hispanic Americans in the U.S.
- Worldwide it is more common in Southeast Asia and China
- Obesity
- Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease
- Exposure to thorium dioxide (Thorotrast), a radioactive contrast agent used for X-rays until the 1950s (it is no longer used)
- Family history of bile duct cancer
- Diabetes
- Alcohol consumption, particularly in people who have liver problems from drinking alcohol
- Other possible risk factors (though the links are not as clear)
- Smoking
- Chronic pancreatitis
- Infection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)
- Asbestos exposure
- Exposure to radon or other radioactive chemicals
- Exposure to dioxin, nitrosamines, or polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)
