[The pathological findings in patients reoperated on for gallbladder cancer]

We reviewed the pathological data from 20 patients who were reoperated on for gallbladder cancer. Diagnosis was made in all from the histological analysis of the removed gallbladder. Mean age was 54. Tumor infiltration extended to the muscular layer in 6, to the subserosa in 9 and to the serosa in 5 patients. At surgery, local hepatic resection and lymph node dissection were performed. Tumoral involvement was limited to the liver in 2 patient, to lymph nodes in 3 and extended to both in the remaining. The first lymph node barrier was involved in 40%, the second in 15% and the tumor extended to the third barrier in 10%. These data suggest that hepatic and lymph node involvement occur early in gallbladder cancer and explain the poor prognosis of this malignancy.