Carcinosarcoma of the gallbladder: a case report and review of the literature

Carcinosarcoma of the gallbladder is a rare malignancy characterized by malignant epithelial and mesenchymal components. The disease usually presents at an advanced stage, and as a result, curative resection is uncommon. This report describes a case that underwent curative resection. We herein declare the case of a patient in a 62-year-old male, with carcinosarcoma of the gallbladder with chondroid differentiation. The patient is treated by a simple cholecystectomy, a wedge resection of the underlying liver tissue and the pericholedochal lymph nodes for a tumor which occupied the entire gallbladder. Histologically, the epithelial component of the tumor was composed of adenocarcinoma and the mesenchymal component was composed of fibrosarcoma. The tumor was identified as extend to the serosa tissue and to have metastasized to no lymph node. The prognosis of carcinosarcoma of the gallbladder remains poor despite curative resection, and thus, the authors recommend that effort should be made to improve surgical outcomes. The patient survived 13 months and is still alive today.