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Patients with distal cholangiocarcinoma (dCCA) generally have poor outcomes because of late presentation and diagnosis. Therefore, prognostic factors for predicting outcomes are essential to improve therapeutic strategies and quality of life. Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) have been reported as a prognostic predictor in several cancers. However, their role in dCCA is still unclear. This study aimed to evaluate the association of TILs with outcome in patients with dCCA. Fifty-two patients were evaluated for the percentage rate of TILs in their cancers, and a median TIL level was used to divide the patients into two groups. Survival, multivariate, and correlation analyses were performed to determine the prognostic factors. Results showed that a low TIL level was associated with poor survival. Multivariate analysis revealed TILs as an independent factor for poor outcome. Moreover, TILs were markedly correlated with growth patterns, and both were applied to classify patients with dCCA. Subgroups of TILs with growth pattern incorporation improved stratification performance in separating good from poor patient outcomes. This study suggested that TILs could be a prognostic factor for predicting survival and for clustering patients with dCCA to improve prognostication capability. This finding may be incorporated into a new staging system for stratifying dCCA in Thailand.

Distal cholangiocarcinoma (dCCA) is a rare type of CCA in Asia, even in Opisthorchis viverrini-prevalent Northeastern Thailand. The clinical ambiguity and imprecision of diagnosis surrounding this malignancy result in high mortality due often to advanced/metastatic disease on presentation. We aim to identify a prognostic factor that can improve the performance stratification and influence the outcome of dCCA patients after curative resection. A total of 79 patients who underwent curative-intended surgery for dCCA was enrolled. Possible risk factors for survival were analyzed with log-rank test, and independent factors with Cox regression model. dCCA patients were staged and classified according to the 8th edition the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) Staging Manual. Results were then compared with the revised classification employing the prognostic factor identified from multivariate analysis. Multivariate analysis revealed that growth pattern (p < 0.01) and distant metastasis (p = 0.012) were independent factors. Growth patterns comprise intraductal (ID), periductal infiltrating (PI), mass-forming (MF), and mixed types. When dCCA patients were grouped into those having good and poor outcomes (with and without ID components, respectively). The survival outcomes significantly differed among patients with and without ID components, which was better than with the 8th AJCC staging system in our cohort. Furthermore, Chi-square test showed that patterns without ID components (PI, MF, PI + MF) correlated with lymph node and distant metastasis. Therefore, classification of dCCA patients after curative-intended surgical resection based on growth pattern provides additional beneficial information for the prediction of survival in dCCA patients.