From January 1975 to August 1988, 40 patients with extrahepatic bile duct carcinoma were treated by external irradiation at Chiba University Hospital and the National Medical Center Hospital. Thirty-four patients (male: 20, female: 14) were evaluable. Eighteen patients were postoperative cases because the surgical margin was positive for tumor cells in the postoperative pathological examination; the other 16 were inoperable cases. Survival in postoperative and inoperable cases was not significantly different, with median survival times of 13.8 and 8.1 months, respectively. Survival in the recanalization-positive and negative-groups was significantly different (p less than 0.05) after irradiation, with median survival times of 13.5 and 6.0 months, respectively. Complications of therapy were recognized in 68% of all cases. They were mainly gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, erosive gastritis and loss of appetite, but they were not severe. Distant metastasis was recognized in only 4 patients (10%): three had bony metastasis and one had supraclavicular and pulmonary hilar lymph node metastasis. Ninety percent of all cases died from hepatic failure or peritonitis carcinomatosa due to failure to obtain local control by external irradiation. A more effective modality of treatment is necessary to cure these patients.