Histopathological Examination of Gallbladder Specimens in Kumaon Region of Uttarakhand

Gall stones are one of the major causes of morbidity and mortality all over the world and common health problems throughout in developing countries. Cholecystectomy is one of the most common surgical practices and postoperative analysis of cholecystectomy specimen has a great value since histopathological reports may document some entities with significant clinical significances. Gallbladder carcinomas in cholecystectomy specimens are received in our histopathology laboratory to analyse their clinicopathological features. This was a descriptive study carried out at the histopathology section of the Department of Pathology at our hospital over a period of two years ranging from November 2016 to October 2018. Both intraoperative and postoperative histological examinations of the excised gallbladder facilitated the diagnosis of gallbladder cancer. Surgery-related variables and surgical approaches were evaluated according to the extent of tumor invasion. Twenty five cholecystectomy specimens of the acute and symptomatic chronic cholecystitis patients were analyzed. Standardization of the reporting were examined. Age, gender, presence of gall stone, cholesterolosis, adenomatous hyperplasia, gastric or intestinal metaplasia, dysplasia, histopathological type of gallbladder carcinoma, cellular differentiation, grading, lympho vascular invision, perineural invasion, lymph node invasion, involvement of cystic duct end margin, liver invasion, omental tissue invasion and T.N.M. staging were investigated. Reported rates of histopathological findings were comparable between patients aged twenty six years to seventy six years. Epithelial hyperplasia and metaplasia were found to be related to age. The correlation between cholesterolosis and gender or metaplasia was noted. We suggest that in India and other nations, high incidences of gallbladder carcinoma, all cholecystectomy specimens must be submitted to routine macroscopic and histopathology examination in the laboratory, as this is the only capability through which malignancies can be detected at an early, potentially curable stage. This incidental finding has altered the management and outcome of this dreadful disease.