The risk of incidental gallbladder cancer is negligible in macroscopically normal cholecystectomy specimens.

BACKGROUND: Cholecystectomy is usually carried out for benign indications. Most perform routine histopathologic examination to detect incidental gallbladder cancer (GBC).

METHODS: Cholecystectomies performed at four hospitals in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area during 2010-2012 were analyzed retrospectively. Patients with preoperative suspicion of neoplasia, active malignancy, or in whom cholecystectomy was performed as a secondary procedure were excluded.

RESULTS: A total of 2034 cholecystectomies were included. In ten patients (0.5%), GBC was identified, each with an associated macroscopic finding, including local hardness (n = 1), a thickened wall (n = 5), acute inflammation and necrosis (n = 1), or suspected neoplasia (n = 3). No GBC was found in macroscopically normal gallbladders (n = 1464). Of the ten patients with GBC, five underwent subsequent liver resection, four had metastatic disease, and one had locally advanced inoperable disease. Three of the five patients who underwent liver resection were alive and disease-free at final follow-up (median 48 months). The remaining seven patients with GBC died of the disease, with a median survival of 14 months (range 10-48 months).

CONCLUSIONS: Routine histopathologic examination of a macroscopically normal gallbladder does not improve diagnosis of GBC. A histopathological examination is, however, mandatory when a macroscopic abnormality is present.