Clinicopathologic Analysis of Adenosquamous/Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Gallbladder

Backgrounds and Objectives: Adenosquamous/squamous cell carcinoma (AS/SCC) of the gallbladder is rarely encountered and accounts for 1.4-10.6% of all gallbladder carcinomas (GBCs). This study was conducted to investigate the clinicopathologic features of AS/SCC of gallbladder. Methods: The authors retrospectively reviewed 16 cases of pathologically proven AS/SCC of the gallbladder among 404 patients who underwent surgery for GBC from October 1994 to March 2009. Forty-eight conventional GBC patients were selected as controls after matching for age and gender. Results: Mean patient age was 60.2 years and half were male. Tumor stages in the case group were significantly more advanced than the control group (P < 0.001). R0 resection rates in cases and controls were 50% and 81.2% (P = 0.022). Overall I-year survival in the case group was significantly poorer than in the control group (18.8% vs. 87.3%, P < 0.001). However, no significant difference in disease-free survival rates was found between cases and controls after R0 resection (P = 0.072). Conclusions: AS/SCC of the gallbladder is often diagnosed at an advanced stage, which results in non-curative surgical resection and a poorer prognosis than conventional GBC. However, curative surgical resection of AS/SCC of the gallbladder might result in disease-free survival rates that are comparable with those of conventional GBC. J. Surg. Oncol. 2011;103:239-242. (C) 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.