Radiation Therapy for Bile Duct Cancer

Radiation therapy uses high-energy rays or particles to destroy cancer cells. Radiation isn't often used to treat bile duct cancer.

How is radiation therapy used to treat bile duct cancer?

Although radiation therapy is not often used to treat bile duct cancer, it might be helpful in some situations. Here are some of the ways it might be used:

After surgery to remove the cancer

This is called adjuvant therapy. It's used to kill any tiny deposits of cancer cells that are left after surgery but are too small to see. Not all doctors agree that adjuvant radiation therapy is helpful for bile duct cancers.

Before surgery for cancers that might be removed

Some doctors may use radiation therapy before surgery for certain cancers that are thought to be resectable (removable). This is done to try to shrink the cancer and make it easier to take it out. This is called neoadjuvant therapy. It’s not clear how helpful this is.

As the main treatment for some advanced cancers

Radiation therapy can also be used as a main treatment for some people whose cancer has not spread through the body but can't be removed with surgery. While treatment in this case does not offer a cure, it may help a person live longer.

As palliative therapy

Radiation therapy is often used to ease symptoms when a cancer is too advanced to be cured. It can help relieve pain or other symptoms by shrinking tumors that block bile ducts or blood vessels or press on nerves.

There are different types of radiation therapy. External beam radiation therapy (EBRT) is the most common form of radiation used to treat bile duct cancer.

External beam radiation therapy (EBRT)

This type of radiation therapy sends x-rays to a specific part of the body to kill cancer cells.

Before your treatments start, the radiation team will take careful measurements to determine the correct angles to aim the radiation beams and the proper dose of radiation. The treatment is much like getting an x-ray, but the radiation is much stronger.

The procedure itself is painless. Each treatment lasts only a few minutes. But the set-up time to get you into place for treatment usually takes longer. Most often, radiation treatments are given 5 days a week for many weeks.

Chemoradiation is when chemotherapy (chemo) is given along with EBRT to help the radiation work better. The main risk of this approach is that the side effects tend to be worse than having radiation alone.

These are some of the ways EBRT might be given.

EBRT side effects

Some common side effects of ERBT to treat bile duct cancer include:

• Skin changes, ranging from redness to blistering and peeling (in the area being treated)
• Nausea and vomiting
• Diarrhea
• Fatigue (tiredness)
• Hair loss (on the skin in the area being treated)
• Low blood cell counts

Side effects from radiation often start 1 to 2 weeks into treatment and usually get better over time once treatment is over.

Proton beam therapy

Proton therapy may be an option if the cancer cannot be removed. Proton therapy is a type of radiation that uses protons rather than x-rays. A proton is a positively charged particle, which can be targeted specifically to the tumor. Compared to x-rays, proton therapy beams are less likely to damage surrounding organs. This form of radiation therapy continues to be studied.

Brachytherapy (internal radiation therapy)

This type of treatment uses small pellets of radioactive material that are put next to or directly into the tumor. The radiation travels a very short distance, so it affects the cancer without causing much harm to nearby healthy body tissues.

For bile duct cancer, brachytherapy is sometimes done with a thin radioactive wire that's put into the bile duct for a short time. This may be called intrabiliary brachytherapy.

Brachytherapy can be used alone, or it may be used along with external beam radiation therapy (EBRT). It has 2 main uses:

• As palliative treatment: Brachytherapy can help relieve symptoms like jaundice by shrinking a tumor that's blocking a bile duct.
• As part of treatment before a liver transplant: For some people with perihilar bile duct cancer that cannot be removed, brachytherapy may be used together with EBRT and chemotherapy. This combination can be used to treat the cancer before a liver transplant. This is called neoadjuvant chemoradiation. It can be given over several weeks. It is then followed by chemotherapy while the person waits for a donor liver. It's only used at specialized transplant centers. And it is only used for carefully selected patients who meet strict criteria.