Vol. 537 No. 1
132 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Minister for Health and Children the reason cancer of the bile duct is on the increase here and in Europe generally; and if this could linked to contaminants or toxins in food being consumed. [15444/01]
Recent concern has been expressed, arising from a UK research report, about an increase in mortality from cancer of the bile duct – intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma.
The average number of new cases occurring in Ireland each year reported since the establishment of the national cancer registry is 15 to 20 with no overall increase over that time. Cancer of the bile duct has not been recorded as a cause of death by the registry because such a specific diagnosis may not be entered onto death certificates.
The observed increase in mortality reported by UK researchers is based on a study of deaths between 1968 and 1998 reported in the June edition of GUT, a medical journal in the field of gastroenterology. The authors conclude that the reported increase may represent better case ascertainment and diagnosis due to improved diagnostic imaging, use of image guided biopsies, or increased use of ERCP, a radiological procedure which produces images of the bile duct. They also state that the observed increase may represent a true increase in intrahepatic bile duct tumours. In the course of the paper they offer certain possibilities which could explain a real increase if one were to exist but the degree to which the increase seen can be attributed to either an increase in reporting or in true incidence or both remains to be examined with further research. No evidence exists which establishes a causal link between an increase in the incidence of bile duct cancer and contaminants or toxins being consumed.
