ON THIS PAGE: You will read about how to cope with challenges in everyday life after a cancer diagnosis. Use the menu to see other pages.

What is survivorship?

The word “survivorship” is complicated because it means different things to different people. Common definitions include:

• Having no signs of cancer after finishing treatment.

• Living with, through, and beyond cancer. According to this definition, cancer survivorship begins at diagnosis and continues during treatment and through the rest of a person’s life.

ON THIS PAGE: You will learn more about clinical trials, which are the main way that new medical approaches are studied to see how well they work. Use the menu to see other pages.

ON THIS PAGE: You will find some helpful links to other areas of Cancer.Net that provide information about cancer care and treatment. This is the final page of Cancer.Net’s Guide to Bile Duct Cancer (Cholangiocarcinoma). To go back and review other pages, use the menu.

Cancer.Net includes many other sections about the medical and emotional aspects of cancer for the person diagnosed and their family members and friends. This website is meant to be a resource for you and your loved ones from the time of diagnosis, through treatment, and beyond.

ON THIS PAGE: You will find some questions to ask your doctor or other members of the health care team to help you better understand your diagnosis, treatment plan, and overall care. Use the menu to see other pages.

ON THIS PAGE: You will find a drawing of the bile duct, which is the part of the body affected by bile duct cancer. Use the menu to see other pages.

ON THIS PAGE: You will read about your medical care after receiving cancer treatment and why this follow-up care is important. Use the menu to see other pages.

Care for people diagnosed with bile duct cancer does not end after active treatment. Your health care team will continue to check that the cancer has not come back, manage any side effects, and monitor your overall health. This is called follow-up care.

ON THIS PAGE: You will read about the scientific research being done to learn more about bile duct cancer and how to treat it. Use the menu to see other pages.

ON THIS PAGE: You will learn about how doctors describe a cancer’s growth or spread. This is called the stage. Use the menu to see other pages.

READ MORE BELOW:

• What is cancer staging?

• How bile duct cancer is staged

ON THIS PAGE: You will find a list of common tests, procedures, and scans that doctors use to find the cause of a medical problem. Use the menu to see other pages.

Doctors use many tests to find, or diagnose, cancer. They also do tests to learn if cancer has spread to another part of the body from where it started. If the cancer has spread, it is called metastasis. Doctors may also do tests to learn which treatments could work best.