Places where cholangiocarcinoma, also called bile duct cancer, happens.

Cholangiocarcinoma, also called bile duct cancer, happens in the tubes that carry bile, a fluid the body uses for digestion, from the liver to the small intestine. The tubes are called bile ducts. When bile duct cancer forms in the ducts within the liver, it's called intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma. Bile duct cancer that happens where the right and left bile ducts join to form the common hepatic duct is called hilar cholangiocarcinoma, perihilar cholangiocarcinoma or Klatskin tumor. Bile duct cancer that happens near the small intestine is called distal cholangiocarcinoma.