The epidemiological trends of Biliary tract cancers in United States

Abstract

Abstract Background: Biliary tract cancers (BTCs) are a series of heterogeneous malignancies that are broadly grouped based on the anatomical site where they arise into subtypes including intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC), extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ECC), gallbladder cancer (GBC), and ampulla of Vater cancer (AVC).Methods and Results: The present study serves to provide an overview of the epidemiology of various biliary tract cancers (BTCs) based on data from the National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database from 2000-2018. Differences in both incidence and mortality rates were observed for these distinct BTCs as a function of age, sex, ethnicity, and calendar year. In 2018, BTCs emerged as the 5th most prevalent form of alimentary tract cancer in US. While increasing trends were observed with respect to ICC incidence and associated mortality, the rates of GBC, ECC, and AVC have remained stable, as have the corresponding mortality rates. The most common and deadliest BTCs in 2018 were ICC and GBC among males and females, respectively. The ethnic groups exhibiting the highest incidence rates of these different BTCs were Black individuals for GBC, Asian and Pacific Islanders for ECC and AVC, and White or Asian and Pacific Islanders for ICC. The incidence of all of these forms of BTC rose with age. There were a few changes among BTCs in staging, locoregional surgical treatments, adjuvant therapies, and prognostic outcomes from 2000-2018.Conclusions: The epidemiological characteristics, staging, locoregional surgical treatments, adjuvant therapies, and prognostic outcomes were distinct for each of these BTCs.