Cholangiocarcinoma is a type of cancer that affects the bile ducts, which transport bile and connect the liver to the gallbladder and the small intestine. It is a rare but highly aggressive tumour, making it essential to promote research in this field to improve patient survival.

Recently, Vall d’Hebron took part in the publication of a new international consensus on cholangiocarcinoma addressing the basic, molecular, translational and clinical aspects of the disease. The consensus was led by researchers from the European Network for the Study of Cholangiocarcinoma (ENSCCA) and published in Nature Reviews Gastroenterology & Hepatology.

The new document provides a comprehensive and critical assessment of current knowledge, integrating advances generated in recent years by multiple research groups and patient organisations worldwide. The consensus highlights key basic, translational and clinical aspects of cholangiocarcinoma, offers new perspectives on emerging and promising therapeutic strategies, and defines future research directions and priority areas in the field.

Expert recommendations were developed through a Delphi consensus process, involving 147 international opinion leaders from 35 countries across Europe, North America, Latin America, Asia, Africa and Oceania, underscoring the global relevance and broad scientific consensus achieved.

ENSCCA researchers — an international, multidisciplinary and collaborative reference network in the field of biliary tract tumours — developed this update of the international consensus within the framework of the European COST Action Precision-BTC Network, in collaboration with leading experts from around the world. ENSCCA played a key role in coordinating 147 experts from 35 countries and transforming years of collaborative work into concrete recommendations applicable to daily clinical practice.

This publication represents the third international consensus in this field, following the landmark editions published in 2016 and 2020, which together have accumulated more than 3,300 citations.

Vall d’Hebron as a reference centre in cholangiocarcinoma

Vall d’Hebron’s participation within ENSCCA has enabled a structured contribution to this consensus, integrating clinical and translational expertise as a reference centre for biliary tumours.

“Being an active member of this network provides us with a unique platform to promote clinical trials and multicentre precision medicine projects, advancing knowledge generation and reinforcing our commitment to innovation and improved outcomes in cholangiocarcinoma”, concludes Dr Cristina Dopazo, surgeon at the Hepatobiliopancreatic (HBP) Surgery and Transplant Unit of Vall d’Hebron University Hospital, researcher in the research group CIRCATH, General, Digestive, Thoracic Surgery and Liver Transplantation at the Vall d’Hebron Research Institute (VHIR), and author of the manuscript.