title: Gallbladder small cell carcinoma: a case report and literature review.
abstract: Gallbladder small cell carcinoma (SCC) comprises only 0.5 % of all gallbladder cancer and consists of aggressive tumors with poor survival outcomes against current treatments. These tumors are most common in elderly females, particularly those with cholecystolithiasis. We report the case of a 79-year-old woman with gallbladder small cell carcinoma. The patient had intermittent right upper quadrant abdominal pain and was admitted to our hospital due to suspected acute cholecystitis. She regularly received medical treatment for diabetes, hypertension, and dyslipidemia. On initial laboratory evaluation, the levels of aspartate aminotransferase (AST), total bilirubin, and C-reactive protein (CRP) were markedly elevated. She underwent computed tomography (CT) for screening. CT images showed a thick-walled gallbladder containing multiple stones and multiple 3-cm-sized round nodular lesions, which were suggestive of metastatic lymph nodes. After percutaneous transhepatic gallbladder drainage was performed, endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration of enlarged lymph nodes resulted in a diagnosis of small cell carcinoma or adenocarcinoma. However, we could not identify the primary lesion before the surgery because of no decisive factors. We performed cholecystectomy because there was a possibility of cholecystitis recurrence risk and also partial liver resection because we suspected tumor invasion. The final pathological diagnosis was neuroendocrine carcinoma of the gallbladder, small cell type. The tumor stage was IVb, T3aN1M1. The patient died 13 weeks after the surgery. In the present paper, we review the current available English-language literature of gallbladder SCC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Nagasaki Harbor Medical Center City Hospital, Nagasaki, 850-8555, Japan.
authors.forename: Toshiyuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Adachi
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Nagasaki Harbor Medical Center City Hospital, Nagasaki, 850-8555, Japan. haraguci@mb.ejnet.ne.jp.
authors.forename: Masashi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Haraguchi
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Nagasaki Harbor Medical Center City Hospital, Nagasaki, 850-8555, Japan.
authors.forename: Junji
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Irie
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Nagasaki Harbor Medical Center City Hospital, Nagasaki, 850-8555, Japan.
authors.forename: Tomoko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yoshimoto
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Nagasaki Harbor Medical Center City Hospital, Nagasaki, 850-8555, Japan.
authors.forename: Ryohei
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Uehara
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Nagasaki Harbor Medical Center City Hospital, Nagasaki, 850-8555, Japan.
authors.forename: Shinichiro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ito
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Nagasaki Harbor Medical Center City Hospital, Nagasaki, 850-8555, Japan.
authors.forename: Hirotaka
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tokai
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Nagasaki Harbor Medical Center City Hospital, Nagasaki, 850-8555, Japan.
authors.forename: Kazumasa
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Noda
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Nagasaki Harbor Medical Center City Hospital, Nagasaki, 850-8555, Japan.
authors.forename: Nobuhiro
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tada
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Nagasaki Harbor Medical Center City Hospital, Nagasaki, 850-8555, Japan.
authors.forename: Masataka
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hirabaru
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Nagasaki Harbor Medical Center City Hospital, Nagasaki, 850-8555, Japan.
authors.forename: Keiji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Inoue
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Nagasaki Harbor Medical Center City Hospital, Nagasaki, 850-8555, Japan.
authors.forename: Shigeki
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Minami
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki, 852-8501, Japan.
authors.forename: Susumu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Eguchi
keywords: Gallbladder; Neuroendocrine tumor; Small cell carcinoma