eMedicine Specialties > General Surgery > Abdomen

Gallbladder Tumors: Follow-up

Author: Thomas J VanderMeer, MD, Assistant Professor of Surgery, SUNY Upstate Medical University; Program Director, General Surgery Residency; Chief, Section of General Surgery, Guthrie Health; Sayre, PA
Coauthor(s): Michael K McLeod, MD, FACE, FACS, Associate Professor of Surgery, Michigan State University College of Human Medicine; Program Director, General Surgery Residency, Michigan State University, Kalamazoo Center for Medical Studies; Tara Mancl, MD, Staff Physician, Department of Surgery, Michigan State University, Kalamazoo Center for Medical Studies; Michel M Murr, MD, Professor, Department of Surgery, Director of Bariatric Surgery, University of South Florida
Contributor Information and Disclosures

Updated: Apr 15, 2009

Outcome and Prognosis

The overall survival rate for adenocarcinoma of the gall bladder depends on the stage at presentation. For T1 lesions, many studies report 5-year survival rates of 100%, especially when hepatectomy is used routinely for T1b or deeper lesions. Five-year survival following extended cholecystectomy for T2 lesions varies in the literature from 38% to 77%. Extended resection is necessary for stage III and IV tumors and results in 5-year survival of about 25%. Patients with unresectable disease have a median survival of 2-4 months and a 1-year survival rate of less than 5%.6,14

Future and Controversies

Improvements in the treatment of gallbladder cancer will rely on more effective chemotherapy to more effectively treat patients with systemic disease.

 


More on Gallbladder Tumors

Overview: Gallbladder Tumors
Workup: Gallbladder Tumors
Treatment: Gallbladder Tumors
Follow-up: Gallbladder Tumors
Multimedia: Gallbladder Tumors
References
Further Reading
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References

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  3. Stephen AE, Berger DL. Carcinoma in the porcelain gallbladder: a relationship revisited. Surgery. Jun 2001;129(6):699-703. [Medline].

  4. Blalock AA. A statistical study of 888 cases of biliary tract disease. Johns Hopkins Hospital Bulletin. 1924;35:391-409.

  5. Ries LAG, Melbert D, Krapcho M, et al. SEER Cancer Statistics Review, 1975-2005. Bethesda, MD: National Cancer Institute; [Full Text].

  6. Tumors of the gallbladder. In: Blumgart LH, ed. Surgery of the Liver, Biliary Tract, and Pancreas. 4th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Saunders Elsevier; 2007:764-81.

  7. [Best Evidence] Renehan AG, Tyson M, Egger M, et al. Body-mass index and incidence of cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective observational studies. Lancet. Feb 16 2008;371(9612):569-78. [Medline].

  8. Zielinski MD, Atwell TD, Davis PW, et al. Comparison of surgically resected polypoid lesions of the gallbladder to their pre-operative ultrasound characteristics. J Gastrointest Surg. Jan 2009;13(1):19-25. [Medline].

  9. Shirai Y, Yoshida K, Tsukada K, et al. Identification of the regional lymphatic system of the gallbladder by vital staining. Br J Surg. Jul 1992;79(7):659-62. [Medline].

  10. American Joint Committee on Cancer. Gallbladder. In: AJCC Cancer Staging Manual. 6th ed. New York, NY: Springer; 2002:139-44.

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  12. Duffy A, Capanu M, Abou-Alfa GK, et al. Gallbladder cancer (GBC): 10-year experience at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre (MSKCC). J Surg Oncol. Dec 1 2008;98(7):485-9. [Medline].

  13. NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology™. Available at www.nccn.org.

  14. Okada K, Kijima H, Imaizumi T, et al. Wall-invasion pattern correlates with survival of patients with gallbladder adenocarcinoma. Anticancer Res. Feb 2009;29(2):685-91. [Medline].

  15. Aldridge MC, Bismuth H. Gallbladder cancer: the polyp-cancer sequence. Br J Surg. Apr 1990;77(4):363-4. [Medline].

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  25. Henson DE, Albores-Saavedra J, Corle D. Carcinoma of the gallbladder. Histologic types, stage of disease, grade, and survival rates. Cancer. Sep 15 1992;70(6):1493-7. [Medline].

  26. Kobayashi S, Ohnuma N, Yoshida H, et al. Preferable operative age of choledochal dilation types to prevent patients with pancreaticobiliary maljunction from developing biliary tract carcinogenesis. Surgery. Jan 2006;139(1):33-8. [Medline].

  27. Kusano T, Takao T, Tachibana K, Tanaka Y, Kamachi M, Ikematsu Y. Whether or not prophylactic excision of the extrahepatic bile duct is appropriate for patients with pancreaticobiliary maljunction without bile duct dilatation. Hepatogastroenterology. Nov-Dec 2005;52(66):1649-53.

  28. Onoyama H, Yamamoto M, Tseng A. Extended cholecystectomy for carcinoma of the gallbladder. World J Surg. Sep-Oct 1995;19(5):758-63. [Medline].

  29. Owen CC, Bilhartz LE. Gallbladder polyps, cholesterolosis, adenomyomatosis, and acute acalculous cholecystitis. Semin Gastrointest Dis. Oct 2003;14(4):178-88. [Medline].

  30. Weiland ST, Mahvi DM, Niederhuber JE, Heisey DM, Chicks DS, Rikkers LF. Should suspected early gallbladder cancer be treated laparoscopically?. J Gastrointest Surg. Jan-Feb 2002;6(1):50-6; discussion 56-7. [Medline].

  31. Wullstein C, Woeste G, Barkhausen S, Gross E, Hopt UT. Do complications related to laparoscopic cholecystectomy influence the prognosis of gallbladder cancer?. Surg Endosc. May 2002;16(5):828-32. [Medline].

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Keywords

gallbladder tumors, gallbladder, gall bladder, gallstones, adenocarcinoma, adenoma, gallstone, cholecystectomy, gallbladder surgery, adenomas, gallbladder disease, tubular adenoma, adenomatous, gallbladder problems, cholelithiasis, biliary tract, gallbladder polyps, carcinoma of the gallbladder, cancer of the gallbladder, gallbladder cancer, porcelain gallbladder, cholecystitis, gallbladder lesions

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Contributor Information and Disclosures

Author

Thomas J VanderMeer, MD, Assistant Professor of Surgery, SUNY Upstate Medical University; Program Director, General Surgery Residency; Chief, Section of General Surgery, Guthrie Health; Sayre, PA
Thomas J VanderMeer, MD is a member of the following medical societies: American College of Surgeons, American College of Surgeons Oncology Group, American Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Association, Association for Surgical Education, Association of Program Directors in Surgery, and Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract
Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Coauthor(s)

Michael K McLeod, MD, FACE, FACS, Associate Professor of Surgery, Michigan State University College of Human Medicine; Program Director, General Surgery Residency, Michigan State University, Kalamazoo Center for Medical Studies
Michael K McLeod, MD, FACE, FACS is a member of the following medical societies: American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists, American Association of Endocrine Surgeons, American College of Surgeons, American Medical Association, Association for Academic Surgery, Association of VA Surgeons, Central Surgical Association, Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma, International Association of Endocrine Surgeons, Michigan State Medical Society, Midwest Surgical Association, National Medical Association, Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons, and Western Surgical Association
Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Tara Mancl, MD, Staff Physician, Department of Surgery, Michigan State University, Kalamazoo Center for Medical Studies
Tara Mancl, MD is a member of the following medical societies: Alpha Omega Alpha, American Academy of Family Physicians, American College of Surgeons, and American Medical Student Association/Foundation
Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Michel M Murr, MD, Professor, Department of Surgery, Director of Bariatric Surgery, University of South Florida
Michel M Murr, MD is a member of the following medical societies: American College of Surgeons, American Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Association, American Society for Bariatric Surgery, Association for Academic Surgery, International College of Surgeons US Section, Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract, and Southeastern Surgical Congress
Disclosure: Tyco Consulting fee Consulting

Medical Editor

Alex Jacocks, MD, Program Director, Professor, Department of Surgery, University of Oklahoma School of Medicine
Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Pharmacy Editor

Francisco Talavera, PharmD, PhD, Senior Pharmacy Editor, eMedicine
Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Managing Editor

Michael A Grosso, MD, Consulting Staff, Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, St Francis Hospital
Michael A Grosso, MD is a member of the following medical societies: American College of Surgeons, Society of Thoracic Surgeons, and Society of University Surgeons
Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

CME Editor

Paolo Zamboni, MD, Professor of Surgery, Chief of Day Surgery Unit, Chair of Vascular Diseases Center, University of Ferrara, Italy
Paolo Zamboni, MD is a member of the following medical societies: American Venous Forum and New York Academy of Sciences
Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Chief Editor

John Geibel, MD, DSc, MA, Vice Chairman, Professor, Department of Surgery, Section of Gastrointestinal Medicine and Department of Cellular and Molecular Physiology, Yale University School of Medicine; Director of Surgical Research, Department of Surgery, Yale-New Haven Hospital
John Geibel, MD, DSc, MA is a member of the following medical societies: American Gastroenterological Association, American Physiological Society, American Society of Nephrology, Association for Academic Surgery, International Society of Nephrology, New York Academy of Sciences, and Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract
Disclosure: AMGEN Royalty Other

 
 
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