Clinical outcomes of small cell neuroendocrine carcinoma and adenocarcinoma of the gallbladder

AIM: To compare the demographics and survival rates between gallbladder adenocarcinoma (GB-adenocarcinoma) and small cell neuroendocrine carcinoma of the gallbladder (GB- NEC- SCC). METHODS: From March 2007 to September 2012, patients who underwent resection of tumor stage T2/T3 GB cancer were enrolled for this study. Fortytwo patients were included in this study, including 38 diagnosed with GB-adenocarcinoma and four diagnosed with GB-NEC-SCC. In the GB-adenocarcinoma group, a radical operation was performed in 28 patients, and ten patients underwent simple cholecystectomy. In the GB-NEC-SCC group, a radical operation was performed in three patients, and one patient underwent simple cholecystectomy. Comparative analysis of the two groups was performed, including clinicopathologic features and survival rates. RESULTS: The median age of the patients was 68 y (range: 35-83 years) and females comprised 26/42 of the patients. GB-adenocarcinoma patients were significantly older than GB-NEC-SCC patients (67.89 +/- 11.15 vs 55.75 +/- 10.31 years; P = 0.029). The median tumor size in GB-adenocarcinoma patients was 2.56 +/- 1.75 cm and 3.98 +/- 3.74 cm in GB-NEC-SCC patients; however, there was no significant difference between the two groups. For tumors > 2 cm, T stage (T2 vs T3), lymphovascular invasion, perineural invasion, lymph node metastasis and lymph node ratio showed no significant differences between the two groups. The overall survival rate of the 42 patients at five years was 77.0%. In the GB-adenocarcinoma group, the overall five-year survival rate was 74.8%, and survival in the GB-NEC-SCC group was 100%, which was not significantly different between the two groups. CONCLUSION: The strategy for treating patients with GB-NEC-SCC should be similar to that used for treating GB-adenocarcinoma, including radical cholecystectomy and liver resection.