Publication:

Extended cholecystectomy in gallbladder cancer: survival and surgical results in two time periods

Background Describe the surgical results in terms of postoperative morbidity and mortality and survival of patients undergoing an EC in two time periods. Gallbladder cancer is a rare disease in the world and highly lethal. T1b and T2 tumors require an extended cholecystectomy (EC) for staging and eventual treatment with adjuvant chemotherapy and/or radiation according to lymph node involvement.

Methods Case series with follow-up of patients undergoing EC between January 2006 and December 2010 (Group A) and between January 2011 and December 2016 (group B) at the Hospital Dr. Hernan Henriquez Aravena and Clinica Alemana in Temuco. Biodemographic, surgical and clinical evolution variables were recorded. Descriptive statistic was used with measures of central tendency and dispersion and analysis with Kaplan-Meier curves for survival.

Results The series consists of 31 patients, 11 in the first time period (group A) and 20 in the second (group B). Total female patients 28. Mean age 60.5±8.5 years in group A and 58.4±9.1 in group B. The mean number of days between cholecystectomy and EC was 123.1±59.1 days in group A and 119.3±48.6 in group B. In group A there was morbidity in 6 patients (54%) and 4 patients (20%) in group B. With an average follow-up of 54.8±41 months in both groups, 2 patients died.

Conclusions Author presented results of similar morbidity and mortality in both study groups and in the literature in national and international studies.