Frequency of carcinoma in post-cholecystectomy biopsy specimens of gall bladder

Background: gallbladder stones disease is a common with a prevalence of 10-15% in the usa and about 16% in pakistan and cholecystectomy is the most common major abdominal surgical procedure performed worldwide. long history of cholelithiasis and chronic cholecystitis are the established risk factors for carcinoma gall bladder,in most of the cases carcinoma gall bladder is an incidental finding during or after surgery for symptomatic gall stones disease. aim: to determine the frequency of carcinoma of gall bladder in patients undergoing cholecystectomy. methods: this prospective (descriptive) study was carried out at surgical b unit of postgraduate medical institute,lady reading hospital,peshawar,for the period of one year,from 15-03-2013 to 15-03-2014. total 206 patients of symptomatic gallstones disease presented in the study period and underwent cholecystectomy were included in the study to find out frequency carcinoma in gall bladder specimens after cholecystectomy. all the patients above age 14 who underwent cholecystectomies were included in study. results: total of 206 patients of symptomatic gallstones disease who underwent cholecystectomy in the study period were included in the study the age of the patients ranged from 17 to 70 years with mean of 44.24± sd 1.23 years. most of the patients with symptomatic gall stones disease were female in the age range of 41-50 years. open cholecystectomy was the commonly performed surgical procedure. out of total cases presented with symptomatic gall stones disease,6 (2.91%) patients were having adenocarcinoma gall bladder on histopathology. carcinoma gall bladder was common in female gender with female to male ratio of 5:1 and the commonly affected age group was 51-60 years. conclusion: gall bladder cancer is an aggressive malignancy only its early detection and prompt curative surgery can improve survival. this is only possible by adopting the protocol of sending every gall bladder specimen for histopathological examination.