Early gallbladder carcinoma: a clinicopathologic study of 13 cases of intramucosal carcinoma

We report the clinicopathologic features of 13 cases of intramucosal carcinoma (IMC) of the gallbladder. All IMCs were incidental findings in cholecystectomy specimens for cholelithiasis. However, one of the patients had a carcinoma of the pancreas, and the gallbladder incidentally removed during the Whipple procedure showed an IMC. Another patient had a small cell carcinoma of the gallbladder, and one of the sections showed an IMC. Of the IMCs, 10 were well-differentiated adenocarcinomas, 1 was a moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma, 1 was an undifferentiated carcinoma, and 1 was a squamous cell carcinoma. Of the patients, 8 were disease-free from 3 to 11 years, and 2 patients died, one as a result of the pancreatic ductal carcinoma and the other with disseminated metastases of the small cell carcinoma. The follow-up of another patient was too short to be significant. Two patients were lost to follow-up. Our findings suggest that a simple cholecystectomy is a curative procedure for IMCs of the gallbladder.