GALLBLADDER CARCINOMA;

Abstract

Objective: Chronic Cholecystitis is one of the commonest diseases presenting in surgical department and is subjected to cholecystectomy each time. A suspicious gall bladder on ultrasound initiates further investigations to rule out carcinoma of gall bladder yet some times a benign looking gall bladder on ultrasound turns out to be carcinoma of gall bladder on histopathology. Design: Descriptive study. Place & Duration of study: District Head Quarters Hospital, Sargodha, from September 2007 to March 2009. Patients & Methods: 200 patients who underwent both open and Laparoscopic cholecystectomy for cholelithiasis were subjected to this study. All relevant data was documented on a standardized data form. Patients were between the ages of 28-74. Patients already diagnosed as Gallbladder Carcinoma, empyema gall bladder, mucocele and gall bladder polyp were excluded from the study. Gall bladders removed after each surgery ware sent to laboratory for histopathological evaluation. Results: A total of 200 cases were studied (161 females, 39 males; M: F ratio 1:4). The mean age was 45 years (range 28-74 years). The most common presenting complaint was pain right hypochondrium with nausea and vomiting (85%).The average operating time was 50 minutes in case of open cholecystectomy and 1 hour in laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Complications included biliary leak in 2 patients (1%), Wound Infection in 3 patients (1.5%) and death in one case (0.5%). The overall rate of complications was 3%. There were a total of 5 patients of laparoscopic cholecystectomy who required extension of the incision, for Carcinoma Gallbladder. Conclusions: Carcinoma of gall bladder is a very aggressive malignancy and usually presents at a very advance stage as its symptoms mostly are marked by symptoms of cholecystitis. Detection of gall bladder carcinoma is very difficult in early stages on ultrasound. Any findings in ultrasound suggesting malignancy should be confirmed on further investigations like CT scan .Carcinoma of Gall bladder is not very common in cases of cholecystectomy for chronic Cholecystitis but once found should be dealt with extreme precision following established operating protocols.