Primary carcinoma of the gallbladder: A review of a 16‐year experience at the waterbury hospital health center

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Abstract
The charts of 48 cases of primary carcinoma of the gallbladder seen at the Waterbury Hospital Health Center over the past 16 yr were reviewed. In 47 patients, the diagnosis was confirmed pathologically. In 1 patient, the diagnosis was made on clinical and radiologic grounds. This condition is more common in females and in the elderly (mean 71.7 yr). Symptoms and signs were nonspecific and duration of symptoms was extremely variable (range: 1 day to 21 yr). There were 16.6% patients who had an associated primary tumor elsewhere. In 89.3% of the carcinomas of the gallbladder, the histologic type was adenocarcinoma. Two thirds of the patients had associated cholelithiasis. Overall 5 yr survival rate was 12.5%. In > 80% of the patients, resection was made impossible by local invasion of liver, biliary ducts and adjacent structures. Patients were divided into 3 groups according to the degree of invasion of the tumor. Group A had a survival rate of 66.6% at 5 yr. There were no survivors in group B and group C. The different factors in each group are compared and discussed. Chemotherapy appeared to have no beneficial effect in the management of carcinoma of the gallbladder. Only 1 patient survived > 12 mo. when tumor invaded the liver or the nodes along the biliary ducts. The postoperative complications and causes of death are also discussed.