Staging of biliary tract and primary liver tumors.

For patients with hepatobiliary malignancies, various therapeutic options are currently available. To optimize the selection of these treatment options, adequate stratification of patients according to their prognosis is practically important. Various staging systems have been introduced and used for hepatobiliary malignancies. However, current staging systems have strengths and limitations, and none have addressed both patient prognosis and the best treatment strategy for individual patients. Hepatic function is also a potent prognostic factor for patients with hepatobiliary malignancies. Therefore, interpretation of tumor staging and selection of treatment should be done with care, understanding individual characteristics of each staging system.