Clinicopathological features of long-term survivors after radical resection for gallbladder cancer

Abstract

Introduction: The aim of this study was to clarify the characteristics shared by long-term survivors (5 years or more) after radical resection for gallbladder cancer. Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted of 174 patients who underwent radical resection for gallbladder cancer. We compared the clinicopathological characteristics between long-term survivors (n = 82) who survived for 5 years or more and short-term (< 5 years) survivors (n = 92). All the patients were followed-up for at least 5 years or until death. Results: The 5-year overall survival rate in all 174 patients was 47% (median survival time, 4.6 years). Age (hazard ratio [HR] 1.8, P = 0.005), depth of invasion (HR 1.9, P = 0.017), distant metastasis (HR 2.5, P < 0.001), perineural invasion (HR 1.9, P = 0.006), and residual tumor status (HR 2.7, P < 0.001) were identified as independent prognostic factors by multivariate analysis. We compared the clinicopathologic characteristics of long- and short-term survivors after resection for gallbladder cancer. Significant differences were found with regard to age, depth of invasion, lymph node metastasis, distant metastasis, lymphatic invasion, venous invasion, perineural invasion, residual tumor status, histology type, and histological grade. There was no long-term survivor in patients with residual tumor. Of 84 patients with lymph node metastasis, 25 survived for more than 5 years after resection. Conclusions: R0 resection is required to achieve long-term survival in gallbladder cancer patients. Regional lymphadenectomy provides a survival benefit for some patients with nodal disease.