Small Cell Carcinoma of the Gallbladder with Cutaneous Metastasis

Masaya Tamura, Humihiko Kimoto, Osamu Murobayashi, Shin Nagao, Shigeiti Hujioka, Shuiti Murata, Katsumi Kiyosaki and Rinichirou Wakasa^*

Department of Surgery and Gastrmoenterology^* Himi Municipal Hospital

We report a case initially identified as acute cholecystitis, found to have a skin metastasis 11 months after surgery. A 75-year-old woman was diagnosed as acute cholecystitis and underwent cholecystectomy. A resected specimen showed an elvated lesion with an irregular margin at the fundus. Histological examination of the gallbladder revealed small cell carcinoma, which did not invade to the serosa. A liver metastasis developed 5 months after surgery. Follow-up computed tomography 11 months after surgery showed cutaneous metastasis from the gallbladder. Dissemination via a percutaneous trans-hepatic gallbladder drainage tube is most probable.

Key words
small cell carcinoma of the gallbladder, cutaneous metastasis

Reprint requests
Masaya Tamura Department of Surgery, Himi Municipal Hospital 31-9 Saiwai-machi, Himi, 935-1531 JAPAN

Accepted
March 31, 1999

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