ABSTRACT
To determine the frequency of incidental carcinoma of the gallbladder in specimens following routine cholecystectomy. Descriptive case series. Department of Surgery, Hayatabad Medical Complex Peshawar, from February 2008 to January 2011. All patients with symptomatic gallstone disease of either gender having age range between 12-70 year were included. Patients with diagnosed gallbladder malignancy, gallbladder mass, empyema gallbladder and gallstones associated with obstructive jaundice were excluded. Following cholecystectomy all the specimens were sent for histopathological examination. Two hundred and sixty patients including 65 males and 195 females [M: F ratio 1:4] aged 12-70 year and having a mean age of 41.7 year [ +/- SD 2.4], were studied. Commonest presentations were pain right hypochondrium and a positive Murphy's sign [87.71%] followed by dyspepsia[55%], nausea, vomiting [40%], pyrexia [31.92%] and weight loss [05%]. Eleven [4.23%] patients had a diagnosis of malignancy of gallbladder at histopathology examination. Mean age for patients with malignancy was 55.25 year with a male to female ratio of 01:10. Well differentiated adenocarcinoma was reported in 45.45% cases, moderately differentiated in 36.36%, poorly differentiated in 09.09% and undifferentiated in 09.09% patients. Routine histopathology of gallbladder following cholecystectomy is helpful in early detection of carcinoma gallbladder