Extrahepatic Of Bile Duct Cancer Treatments

In addition to providing the advanced treatments described above, CTCA enriches your treatment by offering several complementary medicine therapies, including the following:

• Naturopathic medicine
• Nutrition therapy
• Oncology rehabilitation
• Mind-body medicine
• Spiritual support

These therapies may help reduce side effects and improve your quality of life throughout extrahepatic bile duct cancer treatment. At CTCA, you’ll receive integrated, patient-centered cancer care for the whole person, not just the disease.

Explore the pages of this website to learn about extrahepatic bile duct cancer, including risk factors for developing the disease, its symptoms and stages, as well as some of the treatments for extrahepatic bile duct cancer available at CTCA. You can also call 1-800-615-3055 anytime to learn more about how CTCA may be able to help you fight extrahepatic bile duct cancer.

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Extrahepatic Of Bile Duct Cancer

At Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA), we use many tools to help you fight extrahepatic bile duct cancer on all fronts. Here, a multidisciplinary cancer care team will work with you to develop a treatment plan that is tailored to your needs. Our cancer experts provide a powerful combination of traditional and new, innovative therapies. Below are some of the extrahepatic bile duct cancer treatment options you’ll find at CTCA.

Extrahepatic Bile Duct Cancer Treatment

Surgery

is a common procedure used to treat extrahepatic bile duct cancer, whenever practical. Surgery may also help to relieve symptoms or prevent future complications, such as blockage or bleeding.

Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT)

employs a powerful, advanced computer program that plans a precise dose of radiation in three dimensions, based on individual tumor size, shape and location. Remarkably, IMRT allows for higher radiation doses than traditional radiotherapy methods, while helping to spare more of the surrounding healthy tissue.

Metronomic (Fractionated-Dose) Chemotherapy

divides a powerful dose of anticancer drugs into smaller doses, administered over several days. This approach may expose cancer cells to the drugs for a longer period of time, while also helping to reduce the unpleasant side effects often experienced with larger doses.
Biotherapy/Immunotherapy is a treatment that is sometimes used for extrahepatic bile duct cancer. Immunotherapy causes the body’s own natural defenses (immune system) to attack the cancer.

Extrahepatic bile duct cancer treatment options depend on many factors, such as the progression of the illness, as well as your age, overall health and personal preferences. The most common bile duct cancer treatment options are surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy. If the tumor cannot be removed surgically, bypass procedures may be performed to prevent obstruction of the gastrointestinal and biliary tracts and to relieve symptoms.

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Symptoms Of Bile Duct Cancer

The primary function of the bile duct is to transport bile from the liver to the small intestine where it aids in the digestion process by breaking down fats. The portion of the bile duct that is located outside the liver is referred to as extrahepatic, the smaller branches of the duct located inside the liver are intrahepatic. Extrahepatic bile duct cancer is when malignant cells form in the part of the duct outside the liver. This rare disease accounts for only about one or two cases for every person diagnosed in the United States each year.
















Among the various symptoms of bile duct cancer, jaundice is the most common. Jaundice is a yellowing of the skin and the whites of the eyes which occurs when the liver cannot get rid of bile causing bilirubin, a chemical in bile, to back up into the bloodstream. In addition to the discoloring of the skin and eyes, jaundice can also cause itchy skin. It is important to note however, that the majority of jaundice cases are not caused by cancer of the bile duct, but rather by a stone escaping from the gallbladder, causing a blocking of the duct.

Other bile duct cancer symptoms can include weight loss, loss of appetite, fever and pain in the abdomen. If you are experience symptoms of bile duct cancer you should consult with a doctor. There are Oncology Information Specialists standing by at CTCA to answer your questions about cancer of the bile duct. If you prefer you can also request an appointment and meet with one of our professionals one on one.

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Integrated Care of the Bile Duct Cancer

At Cancer Treatment Centers of America we provide an integrated care plan that incorporates both conventional and complementary treatments. We realize that the impact bile duct cancer can have on a patient goes beyond the physical. The impact of cancer is physical, emotional and spiritual. CTCA not only realizes this, but uses this as a guide in creating a treatment plan for patients with cancer of the bile duct.















CTCA works with each of our patients to provide a completely personalized treatment plan that is developed taking into account the unique medical conditions, needs and desires of the specific patient. We do more than treat the bile duct cancer, we treat the person. Contact an Oncology Information Specialist today, and learn more about the integrated bile duct cancer treatment options that Cancer Treatment Centers of America can develop to help treat your mind, body and spirit.

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Treatment Of Bile Duct Cancer

There are many conventional bile duct cancer treatment options that CTCA offers. Surgery is a common procedure that is utilized when it is feasible; it can often prevent complications such as blockage or bleeding in the future. Intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) is an advanced form of radiation therapy that utilizes an advanced computer which plans a precise doses of radiation based on three dimensional representations off the tumor's size, shape and location. This approach to radiation therapy allows for a higher dose of radiation to be directed to the tumor, while possibly sparing more of the surrounding tissue.

Cancer of the bile duct may also be treated with chemotherapy. We may employ a fractioned dose chemotherapy approach for bile duct cancer patients because it allows for the cancer cells to be exposed to a powerful dose of the drugs for a longer period of time, while also possibly reducing the unpleasant side effects that a patient can experience with larger doses.













While surgery, radiation and chemotherapy are common treatment options for bile duct cancer; we encourage you to contact an Oncology Information Specialist today. They can help you to explore all our conventional treatments as well as discuss a personalized approach that will best suit your needs.

To ensure that the bile duct cancer treatment plan developed for you meets all your needs as a patient, Cancer Treatment Centers of America looks to complementary therapy options in addition to the conventional methods.

We feel it is important to address the emotional and spiritual needs of our patients along with their physical needs. In an effort to offer you the most well rounded treatment for cancer of the bile duct, we develop a plan that may include naturopathic medicine, spiritual support and nutritional therapy in addition to other complementary elements. When you contact CTCA to discuss cancer treatment options, you will not only be consulted by an oncologist specializing in conventional treatment, but also alternative medicine practitioners that can establish complementary treatments of your cancer of the bile duct.

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What Is Bile Duct Cancer

Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA) is committed to providing you with the most comprehensive bile duct cancer treatment options available. Helping people with cancer is all we do, and we are dedicated to being a worldwide leader in this field. For years we have been on the leading edge of both conventional and complementary cancer treatment options.














Encouraging you to be involved in every decision made concerning your treatment, CTCA wants you to be informed about, and have access to, the best possible treatment options for your needs.

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