Gallbladder cancer: current status in clinical practice.

A total series of 68 unselected patients with gallbladder cancer, diagnosed during 1972 to 1981, was studied retrospectively. In 61 cases (90%), the diagnosis was histologically verified. The cardinal symptoms were local pain (87%), loss of weight (53%), and jaundice (59%). The diagnosis was established after autopsy in 22 patients (32%), and exploratory laparotomy in 22 patients (32%). Palliative surgery was carried out in 26 patients of whom seven (27%) died postoperatively. Only one patient, with an incidentally detected cancer at routine cholecystectomy, was treated radically. Four out of nine patients died within one month after PTC-drainage. The mean survival time for the whole series was 2.9 months. The longest survival was 21 months. Considering the increasing incidence of gallbladder cancer in Sweden, as well as of other cancers of the biliary system, these findings emphasize the need for intensified research. An epidemiological approach studying the correlation of gallbladder cancer with the changing trend of gallstone disease and its treatment would perhaps be fruitful.