ABSTRACT
Background: Carcinoma of gall bladder clinically mimics benign gall bladder diseases and often escapes detection untiladvanced stage. Careful attention to any evidence of wall thickening, thorough sampling and close examination of any deeplysituated glandular structures are critical.Aims: To study the clinicopathological pattern of gall bladder malignancies.Materials And Methods: This was a 4 year retrospective study and carried in Department of Pathology, Government MedicalCollege, Srinagar, Kashmir, between January 2015 and December 2018. Our study included 57 cases of gall bladder malignanciesincluding incidental detected cases.Results: During this four year study, a total of 57 patients were studied. Male to female ratio of 0.78:1 was seen. The age ofthe patients ranged from 27-85 years and peak age incidence was seen in sixth decade of life. The most common presentingsymptoms were pain abdomen followed by anorexia and dyspepsia. Grossly evident tumor was seen on initial pathologicexamination in 49 cases (85%) while 8 cases grossly presented no visible tumor (i.e. incidental gall bladder carcinomas havingonly mild wall thickening undetected by imaging).The most common tumor sites were in the body and the fundus of gallbladder.The most common histologic type was adenocarcinoma NOS in 47 cases followed by papillary adenocarcinoma in 2 cases,mucinous adenocarcinoma in 2 cases, primary squamous cell carcinoma in 3 cases, and a single case each of neuroendocrinetumor and adenosquamous carcinoma. Immunohistochemistry was done, wherever needed, for confirmation.Conclusion: GBC is not an uncommon clinical entity in Kashmir valley, unlike western countries. In spite of the advancedimaging techniques, early gall bladder carcinoma is not efficiently detected. Therefore, every gallbladder should be subjectedto routine histopathological examination because with identification of an early gallbladder carcinoma a curative resection maybe possible and these patients have a good long term survival.