Early carcinoma of the gallbladder.

Twenty five curatively operated patients with carcinoma of the gallbladder were studied to determine the early stage of this cancer according to the depth of invasion. Patients with cancer invasion limited to the proper muscle layer, should be designated as cases with early cancer of the gallbladder and in these cases, metastasis or further invasion was rare and a good postoperative survival rate was obtained. However, if the early cancer was of the nodular or infiltrative type macroscopically, and of tubular adenocarcinoma or adenosquamous carcinoma histologically, the chances of long-term postoperative survival were poor. Based upon our results, it is suggested that extended cholecystectomy should be performed even in patients with early gallbladder cancer.