Carcinoma of the gallbladder--a natural history type of study.

A retrospective analysis of the natural history of 63 consecutive patients with gallbladder cancer during 30 years at a county hospital in Sweden is presented. Dominating symptoms were pain, jaundice, weight loss, and a palpable mass. Fifty patients were subjected to surgery. Forty-one patients had an extensive tumor spread in the abdominal cavity. Twenty-six patients were cholecystectomized and in 24 patients biopsy from the tumor was the only measure taken. The gallbladder cancer was occult in four patients. The median survival time was 1 month in patients who underwent autopsy, 2 months in patients who were biopsied and 4 months in patients who were cholecystectomized. The overall 6-month and 1-year crude survival rates were 16% and 8%, respectively. Comparison with previous reports regardless of treatment reveals that the prognosis of gallbladder cancer is still dismal and unchanged.