Biliary tract cancer is a tough opponent. Chemotherapy has improved outcomes, but managing blocked bile ducts is a challenge. Two methods stand out for placing stents in these blocked ducts: side-by-side (SBS) and stent-in-stent (SIS). Let's talk about stents. They are tiny tubes that keep ducts open. In the case of biliary tract cancer, these ducts can get bloc...
Biliary tract cancers (BTCs) are a group of cancers that are becoming more common and harder to treat. These cancers are tricky because they have different genetic makeups, making it hard to find the right treatment. Doctors have been looking into the genetic makeup of these cancers to find better ways to treat them. They have found that some BTCs have a specific gen...
Managing biliary tract cancer is a complex task for healthcare professionals. The European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) recently shared some key insights in their interim update on treating this disease. Let's dive into what doctors need to know to provide the best care for their patients. Firstly, it's crucial to understand the different types of biliary tra...
Biliary tract cancers, or BTC, are notoriously stealthy. They often remain undiscovered until they've already caused significant damage, making treatment challenging. Doctors typically start with chemotherapy, but it doesn't always work as planned. Even when combined with treatments that boost the immune system, the results are not impressive. Why is this? BTC can ou...
When facing advanced biliary tract cancer (BTC), patients often need second-line chemotherapy after the first treatment fails. This review digs into the available evidence to help doctors and patients make informed choices. By comparing different chemo options using a method called network meta-analysis (NMA), researchers aim to give clear guidance on what works best...
Ever wondered why finding new medicines for biliary tract cancer is so hard? It's not just one disease, but a group of different tumors affecting the inside and outside of the liver's bile ducts, and even the gallbladder. Each type has its own genetic make-up, making it a real puzzle for scientists. Despite knowing more about the genes gone wrong, patients still face...
Biliary tract cancers (BTCs) are cancers that affect the bile ducts and gallbladder, including intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC), extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ECC), and gallbladder cancers. Researchers have found several genomic changes in these cancers, such as mutations in isocitrate dehydrogenase 1 (IDH1), rearrangements in fibroblast growth factor recepto...
Imagine you're battling advanced biliary tract cancer (ABTC), and your doctors suggest a mix of drugs: nivolumab, modified gemcitabine, and S-1. This combo showed promise in a past trial, but PD-L1 levels didn't tell us much about how well it would work. So, scientists looked at another marker, LAG-3. They studied 44 tumor samples, staining them for both PD-L1 and LA...
You might not think about it, but the time of day you get your cancer treatment could make a difference. Scientists have been looking into how our body's internal clock, called the circadian rhythm, affects how well cancer drugs work. One type of drug, called immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), has been quite successful in treating advanced biliary tract cancers (BT...
Immune treatments, or immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), are game-changers for some people with far-advanced solid tumors. But when it comes to biliary tract cancer (BTC), doctors are still figuring out who gets the most benefit from these treatments. A recent trial focused on pembrolizumab, an ICI, to better understand who will respond best to this therapy in adva...