Single-institution experience with gemcitabine–cisplatin combination therapy as a second-line treatment for patients with unresectable biliary tract cancer after failure of gemcitabine–S-1 combination therapy: a prospective feasibility study

Background NCCN and Japanese clinical guidelines for the treatment of biliary tract cancer (BTC) addressed gemcitabine–cisplatin combination (GC) as first-line chemotherapy for patients with advanced BTC ineligible for surgery in 2013. However, gemcitabine–S1 combination therapy (GS) has been widely used as first-line treatment in Japan because Japanese social insurance coverage of S-1 for BTC was approved prior to that of cisplatin.