Surgical strategies for unexpected gallbladder carcinoma

H.-X. Cui, X.-D. Ma, X.-L. Han, X.-H. Zhang

Department of General Surgery, Xuzhou Center Hospital, XuZhou, China. cuihx2009@126.com

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• Oncology

OBJECTIVE: To explore surgical strategies for unexpected gallbladder carcinoma (UGC).

PATIENTS AND METHODS: A study of hospital records was performed in 26 patients with UGC treated in our institution from January 1990 to December 2002. The surgical therapies and disease prognosis were analyzed.

RESULTS: Five cases of GBC were noted during open cholecystectomy (OC) and 15 were confirmed during minicholecystectomy (MC), while were 6 identified during laparoscopic (LC) surgery; all patients with Nevin Stage I gallbladder carcinoma (GBC) survived > 3 years; patients with Stage III GBC died within 2 years and patients with Stage IV GBC died within 1 year.

CONCLUSIONS: Caution must be taken when high risk conditions and atypical ultrasonography of gallbladder are encountered. Examination of frozen sections should be performed routinely in all cases to reduce the rates of misdiagnosis. Surgery is an effective treatment for GBC.

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