Adjuvant chemotherapy improves survival outcomes in biliary tract cancers

A systematic review and network meta-analysis of eight randomized controlled trials involving 1,803 biliary tract cancer patients found that adjuvant chemotherapy significantly enhances relapse-free survival and overall survival compared to observation alone. Notably, gemcitabine-based chemotherapy outperformed fluorouracil-based treatments in reducing recurrence rates. The analysis indicates that postoperative chemotherapy should be a standard recommendation following curative resection, particularly for patients with negative margins and lymph node involvement, to optimize survival rates.