Tumour radiological appearance evaluated by enhanced CT correlates with tumour progression and survival in curable gallbladder cancer.

BACKGROUND

Surgical resection has been proposed for curable gallbladder cancer (GBCA); however, optimal preoperative evaluation and resection planning methods remain unestablished. The aim of this study was to establish the types of CT tumour radiological appearances in GBCA with a focus on its association with clinicopathologic features and its prognostic impact in curable GBCA.

METHODS

In all, 118 patients surgically treated for GBCA were identified and CT tumour radiological appearances were reviewed. Models were established and internally validated. Clinicopathologic variables and prognostic impact were analysed for correlation with tumour radiological appearance.

RESULTS

The classification and distribution of tumour radiological appearance in these patients was Type 1 (n = 14), Type 2 (n = 60), Type 3 (n = 21), Type 4 (n = 18), and undetermined (n = 5). Among the 113 patients, a higher tendency of T stage and incidence of lymph node metastasis was observed from Type 1 to Type 4. Most Type 1 patients were T1 stage, they have no lymph node involvement or recurrence. With a median follow-up of 25 months (range, 1-135 months), a clear prognostic difference was observed among the 4 types after surgical treatment (p < 0.001). Type 1 patients showed 100% 5-year survival rate. Among the 66 T2 tumours, both tumour location and tumour radiological appearance effectively stratified patient prognosis (p < 0.001, p = 0.007). Introducing tumour radiological appearance into tumour location enabled further prognostic stratification of the 35 T2h tumours (p < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

Type of CT tumour radiological appearance is a predictor of tumour biology. It may improve preoperative evaluation and resection planning.