Cytopathology of precursor lesions of invasive carcinoma of the gallbladder: a study of bile aspirated from surgically excised gallbladders.

Bile aspirated from 374 gallbladders immediately after they were excised for cholelithiasis or cholecystitis was examined cytologically. Smears from 250 cases were considered adequate for cytologic analysis, and the findings were correlated with the histologic diagnosis. Poor correlation was obtained with hyperplasia (28%) and dysplasia (25%). In contrast, cytohistologic correlation was good for cases of carcinoma in situ (four of six cases) and invasive carcinoma (seven of seven cases). Several reasons are given for the discordance between cytologic and histologic diagnosis of hyperplasia and dysplasia. The experience gained in this study may serve in the preoperative identification of these cancer precursors in high-risk patients.