Key Statistics for Bile Duct Cancer
Bile duct cancer (cholangiocarcinoma) is rare in the United States, but more common in Southeast Asia. It occurs most often in older people.
How common is bile duct cancer?
Bile duct cancer (cholangiocarcinoma) is rare. About 8,000 people in the United States are diagnosed with it each year. This includes both intrahepatic (inside the liver) and extrahepatic (outside the liver) bile duct cancers. But the actual number of cases is likely to be higher, because these cancers can be hard to diagnose, and some might be misclassified as other types of cancer.
Bile duct cancer is more common in Southeast Asia. This is mostly because liver flukes (a parasitic infection that can cause bile duct cancer) are much more common there.
Who gets bile duct cancer?
Bile duct cancer is seen mainly in older people, but it can occur in younger people. The average age of people in the US diagnosed with bile duct cancer is in the 70s.
The chances of survival for people with bile duct cancer depend largely on its location and how advanced it is when it's found. For more on this, see Survival Statistics for Bile Duct Cancers.
Visit the American Cancer Society’s Cancer Statistics Center for more key statistics.
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- References
Developed by the American Cancer Society medical and editorial content team with medical review and contribution by the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).
American Cancer Society. Cancer Facts & Figures 2024. Atlanta, Ga: American Cancer Society; 2024.
Antwi SO, Mousa OY, Patel T. Racial, ethnic, and age disparities in incidence and survival of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma in the United States: 1995-2014. Annals of Hepatology. 2018;17(2):274-285.
Howlader N, Noone AM, Krapcho M, Miller D, Bishop K, Kosary CL, Yu M, Ruhl J, Tatalovich Z, Mariotto A, Lewis DR, Chen HS, Feuer EJ, Cronin KA (eds). SEER Cancer Statistics Review, 1975-2014, National Cancer Institute. Bethesda, MD. Accessed at https://seer.cancer.gov/csr/1975_2014/, based on November 2016 SEER data submission, posted to the SEER web site, April 2017.
Last Revised: October 11, 2024
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