Treatment Options for Localized and Locally Advanced Gallbladder Cancer

Previously unsuspected gallbladder cancer that is incidentally discovered in the mucosa of the gallbladder during pathological examination is curable in more than 80% of patients. However, symptomatic gallbladder cancer that is suspected prior to surgery often penetrates the muscularis and serosa. This type of gallbladder cancer is curable in less than 5% of patients.

One study reported the patterns of lymph node spread from gallbladder cancer and outcomes of patients with metastases to lymph nodes in 111 consecutive surgical patients in a single institution from 1981 to 1995.[1][Level of evidence C1] The standard surgical procedure was removal of the gallbladder, a wedge resection of the liver, resection of the extrahepatic bile duct, and resection of the regional (N1 and N2) lymph nodes. Kaplan-Meier estimates of the 5-year survival rates were 42.5% ± 6.5% for patients with node-negative tumors pathologically staged as T2 to T4 and 31% ± 6.2% for patients with similar node-positive tumors.

Treatment options for localized and locally advanced gallbladder cancer include: