Primary carcinoma of the gallbladder

The records of patients with primary carcinoma of the gallbladder treated at Charity Hospital, New Orleans, Louisiana, from 1965 through 1978 were reviewed. Eighty patients had histologically proven primary carcinoma of the gallbladder. Sixty-nine patients had sufficient data available for evaluation. Only one patient (1.4%) was clinically free of disease at five years. Surgical procedures were performed in 45 of the 69 patients. The remainder of the patients had their disease proved at autopsy. Thirty-five patients had widespread metastatic disease at the time of operation. None of these patients survived more than one year. Only 10 patients had potentially curable lesions. The diagnosis of carcinoma of the gallbladder was not made at operation in eight of these patients. The only five-year survivor was in this subgroup. This patient had papillary adenocarcinoma confined to the mucosa and muscularis, and had a cholecystectomy alone. This report reinforces the difficulty in diagnosis and the dismal prognosis for patients with primary carcinoma of the gallbladder. Intraoperative examination of the gallbladder, earlier operation for documented gallbladder disease, and more aggressive surgical therapy should improve survival figures.