Role of radical resection in patients with gallbladder carcinoma and jaundice.

Background: Gallbladder carcinoma (GBC) is a commonly-seen malignancy of the biliary tract characterized by difficult early diagnosis, rapid growth, early metastasis, and poor prognosis. Nearly half of GBC patients also have jaundice, which is a mark of the advanced stage of GBC. The role of radical resection in patients of gallbladder carcinoma with jaundice is still a matter of uncertainty, which we attempted to clarify in this study.

Methods: Totally, 251 GBC patients who received treatment at the Eastern Hepatobiliary Surgery Hospital (EHBH) from December 2002 to January 2010 were recruited into this study. We divided them into group A (jaundice group, n=117) and group B (non-jaundice group, n=134). Clinical records and follow-up data were collected and retrospectively analyzed in both groups.

Results: Compared with group A, patients in group B had a longer median survival time ((6.0±0.5) months vs. (15.0±2.6) months, P<0.01). Even in patients with stage III or stage IV GBC, the median survival time in patients without jaundice (n=111), was still longer than that in patients with jaundice (n=116) (P<0.01). The radical resection rate was lower in group A patients than in group B patients with stage III or stage IV GBC; 31.9% vs. 63.1%. However, the median survival time of patients undergoing radical resection did not show a statistical difference between jaundice patients and non-jaundice patients; (12.0±4.3) months vs. (18.0±3.0) months (P>0.05).

Conclusions: GBC with jaundice usually implies advanced stage disease and a poor prognosis for the patients. However, our findings indicate that as long as the patient's condition allows, radical resection is still feasible for GBC patients with jaundice, and may achieve a prognosis close to those GBC patients without jaundice.