Comprehensive Real-World Outcomes of Multimodal Treatment in Gallbladder Cancer: A Prospective Cohort Study

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Surgical Oncology
• Gastrointestinal Oncology

Background:

• Gallbladder cancer is aggressive with high incidence in North India.
• Most patients present with advanced disease, limiting curative treatment options.

Purpose of the Study:

• To prospectively evaluate outcomes of multimodal treatment for gallbladder cancer.
• Assessing neoadjuvant chemotherapy, surgery, and palliative chemotherapy in an endemic center.

Main Methods:

• Prospective observational cohort of 1,500 newly diagnosed gallbladder cancer patients.
• Stratification into neoadjuvant chemotherapy, upfront surgery, and palliative chemotherapy groups.
• Kaplan-Meier analysis for overall survival (OS).

Main Results:

• 80.2% of patients presented with metastatic disease.
• Neoadjuvant chemotherapy had limited success; only 12.7% proceeded to surgery.
• Surgery in 92 patients achieved 88.5% 1-year overall survival; palliative chemotherapy showed a median OS of 5 months.

Conclusions:

• Surgery is the only treatment yielding significant survival benefits for gallbladder cancer.
• Neoadjuvant and palliative chemotherapy provided limited benefit in this cohort.
• Urgent need for early detection and standardized treatment pathways in endemic areas.