Gallbladder carcinoma in the era of laparoscopic cholecystectomy.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the usefulness of laparoscopic cholecystectomy for unsuspected and suspected gallbladder carcinoma.


METHODS
Retrospective review with a mean follow-up of 27 months, ranging from 1 to 47 months.


METHODS
University hospital and 8 affiliated hospitals.


METHODS
Of 2616 laparoscopic cholecystectomies performed over 4 years, 24 gallbladder carcinomas were treated by laparoscopic cholecystectomy and retrospectively reviewed.


RESULTS
The clinical course depended on the histopathologic depth of invasion of gallbladder carcinoma. All 6 cases of pathologic tumor (pT) stage in situ (pTis) gallbladder carcinoma and 2 cases of pT1 gallbladder carcinoma showed no invasion to the lymphatic, venous, or perineural spaces, and these 8 patients were all doing well from 2 to 19 months (mean, 11 months) after laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Sixteen cases of pT2 or pT3 gallbladder carcinoma invaded the subserosal layer or the liver, and 5 of the 16 patients were dead of liver dysfunction, abdominal wound recurrence, or liver metastasis 5 days and 7, 12, 15, and 18 months after operation, although additional resection of the liver bed with lymph node dissection was performed after laparoscopic cholecystectomy in 4 of these 5 patients. Abdominal wall recurrence in the absence of distant metastasis was present in 3 (19%) of the 16 patients with pT2 or pT3 gallbladder carcinoma due to inoculation of cancer cells in the abdominal stab wounds where the gallbladder or laparoscope was removed.


CONCLUSIONS
Gallbladder carcinoma at the pTis or pT1 stage removed laparoscopically needs no other treatment. We recommend that the gallbladder be removed by vinyl bag and port sites be excised or washed with normal saline to prevent port site recurrence in patients with laparoscopic cholecystectomy for pT2 or pT3 carcinoma.
Yamaguchi
K
K
Department of Surgery I, Kyushu University Faculty of Medicine, Fukuoka, Japan.
Chijiiwa
K
K
Ichimiya
H
H
Sada
M
M
Kawakami
K
K
Nishikata
F
F
Konomi
K
K
Tanaka
M
M
D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000401:mortality / Q000556:secondary / Q000601:surgery*; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D017081:Cholecystectomy, Laparoscopic; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005706:Gallbladder Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate