[Primary gallbladder carcinoma. A review of 41 cases]

We present a retrospective study of primary carcinoma of the gallbladder with a total of 41 cases over a period of 11 years. In the majority of cases the clinical presentation (cholelithiasis, choledocholithiasis); there were only 7 cases of suspected diagnosis, mainly through the use of new diagnostic techniques (echography, computerized tomography). The classification used is that described by Nevin (1976) of affection of gallbladder wall and adjacent tissues. The conclusions of our study are as follows: a) primary neoplasias of the gallbladder are aggressive tumours carrying a poor prognosis aggravated usually late diagnosis due to the scarce symptomatology, b) given the high incidence of cholelithiasis, it is advisable to perform routine cholecystectomy, c) survival is related to the histological grading of the tissues.