bile duct cancer
Meaning of bile duct cancer: This uncommon cancer develops within the tubes that carry bile from the liver to the intestine, and can arise inside or outside the liver.
Definition of bile duct cancer
Bile duct cancer, also known as cholangiocarcinoma, is a cancer that forms in the bile ducts, the network of tubes that carry bile, a fluid produced by the liver that aids in digesting fat, from the liver toward the small intestine. The ducts include branches within the liver, called intrahepatic ducts, and the larger ducts outside the liver, called extrahepatic ducts.
The cancer is classified according to where along this system it develops, since intrahepatic bile duct cancer, which arises within the liver, is evaluated somewhat differently than extrahepatic bile duct cancer, which arises in the ducts outside the liver, closer to or within the region where the liver, gallbladder, and intestine connect.
Bile duct cancer often produces few symptoms in its early stages, and jaundice, a yellowing of the skin and eyes caused by blocked bile flow, is frequently among the first noticeable signs, particularly when the cancer narrows or blocks a duct outside the liver.
Also known as
Used in a sentence
Imaging revealed a mass consistent with bile duct cancer near the junction of the hepatic ducts.
Good to know
Bile duct cancer arising inside the liver is evaluated and staged differently than bile duct cancer arising outside the liver, a distinction based on the exact location where the tumor develops within the duct system.
Word origin
Where “bile duct cancer” comes from
Cancer is formed from Latin cancer, meaning crab, a name applied since antiquity to tumors whose swollen veins were thought to resemble a crab's legs.