A critical analysis of the surgical management of early-stage gallbladder cancer in the United States.
BACKGROUND
Radical resection is recommended for selected patients with gallbladder (GB) cancer. We sought to determine whether radical resection improves survival for patients with early-stage cancer and to evaluate surgeon compliance with current treatment recommendations.


METHODS
Patients with stage 0, I, or II GB cancer who underwent surgical resection were identified from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) tumor registry from 1988 through 2004. Patients were classified by surgical procedure performed (simple vs. radical resection) and adjuvant treatment given (radiation therapy [RT] vs. no RT). Unadjusted and adjusted overall survival (OS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS) were compared.


RESULTS
Of the 4,631 patients who underwent surgery for early-stage GB cancer from 1988 through 2004, 4,188 (90.4%) underwent cholecystectomy alone and 443 (9.6%) underwent radical surgery including hepatic resection. The proportion of patients having radical surgery for T1b, T2, and T3 cancers was 4.5%, 5.6%, and 16.3%, respectively. For patients with T1b/T2 cancer, radical resection was associated with significant improvement in adjusted CSS (p = 0.01) and OS (p = 0.03). For patients with T3 cancers, we noted no improvement in CSS or OS. Survival for patients with node-positive disease (stage 2b) was universally poor and not improved by radical resection. For all patients who underwent radical resection, node negativity, female sex, age <70, low grade, and RT predicted improved CSS and OS.


CONCLUSIONS
Despite a significant survival advantage for patients with T1b/T2 GB cancer who undergo radical resection, this treatment is significantly underutilized. Ensuring delivery of recommended surgical treatment is vital to improving outcomes for patients with this disease.
Jensen
Eric H
EH
Division of Surgical Oncology, University of Minnesota Medical Center, 420 Delaware Street SE, MMC 195, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA. jense893@umn.edu
Abraham
Anasooya
A
Habermann
Elizabeth B
EB
Al-Refaie
Waddah B
WB
Vickers
Selwyn M
SM
Virnig
Beth A
BA
Tuttle
Todd M
TM
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002763:Cholecystectomy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D005706:Gallbladder Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D019983:Guideline Adherence; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D018426:SEER Program; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult