Carcinoma of the gallbladder.

Carcinoma of the gallbladder does not present with any specific signs or symptoms, frequently mimicking benign gallbladder disease. Thus the diagnosis often is not made pre- or intraoperatively. A retrospective review of the Louisiana State University Medical Center-Shreveport experience was done to evaluate stage at diagnosis, therapy, and outcome. Thirty cases of gallbladder carcinoma were diagnosed between 1952 and 1982. The mean age of the patients was 67.4 years with 23 women and seven men. Six patients had the diagnosis made only after final pathologic examination of the specimen and had a mean survival of 7.4 months. Only three patients had the diagnosis made at operation with the tumor localized and the procedure thought to be curable with a mean survival 13.0 months. A biopsy alone or autopsy diagnosis was performed in 11 patients and a palliative procedure done in ten patients, with mean survival 0.9 months and 3.6 months, respectively. Successful surgical therapy is usually more fortuitous than planned. Surgeons must maintain a high index of suspicion and obtain frozen section diagnosis of any suspected tumor.