Dysplasia of gallbladder. Its pathological significance

Twenty-three cases of dysplasia of the gallbladder and 38 cases of carcinoma with surrounding dysplasia were investigated. The dysplasia did not show any remarkable lesion and consisted of atypical basophilic cells with oval or round nuclei. The ratio of nucleus to cytoplasm (N/C) ratio was usually larger than the normal epithelial cells. For the combined dysplasia, it has been considered that 1) the dysplasia arose as well-differentiated carcinoma, 2) appeared synchronously, 3) arose secondarily, and 4) appeared as a precancerous lesion. Intestinal metaplasia, dysplasia, and carcinoma showed similar characteristics as to location and mucin-chemistry. According to CEA stain by PAP method, the dysplasia and carcinoma showed similar characteristics. It may be considered that the sequence of intestinal metaplasia-dysplasia-carcinoma is important.