Two Cases of Small Cell Carcinoma of the Gallbladder

Testuji Yamada, Shingo Yagi, Shigeichi Fujioka, Kei Tsuchida, Yasuhiko Tatsuzawa, Yuusuke Uno, Susumi Kitagawa, Masaski Nakagawa

Department of General and Gastrointestinal Tract Surgery, Ishikawa Prefectural Central Hospital

Small cell carcinoma of the gallbladder is extremely uncommon and difficult to treat. We report two cases of this disease. Case 1: An 8l-year-old man who underwent low unterior resection for rectal carcinoma in October 1991 was admitted in November 1993 because of gastric cancer. At the operation, a tumor of the gallbladder was also found. So gastrectomy with lymph node dissection and extended cholecytectomy were performed. Case 2: A 80-year-old woman was admitted in July 1993 because of acute peritonitis. At the emergency operation, a perforation and a tumor of the gallbladder were found. So cholecystectomy performed without lymph node dissection. Histological examination of the gallbladder in both cases revealed small cell carcinoma. Patinet 1 with triple cancers of the stomach, gallbladder and rectum is still alive, patient 2 died 2 months after the operation. Survival analysis of the 18 reported cases of this disease in Japan supported the efficacy of the combination therapy in comparison to surgery alone.

Key words
small cell carcinoma, gallbladder carcinoma, undifferenciated carcinoma

Reprint requests
Tetsuji Yamada Department of General and G-I Tract Surgery, Ishikawa prefectural Central Hospital
153-Nu Minamishinbo, Kanazawa, 920-02 JAPAN

Accepted
March 6, 1996

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