Neuroendocrine carcinoma of the gallbladder: ten cases in a single institution / 中华肝胆外科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To summarize and analyse the clinical characteristics,diagnosis and treatment options of neuroendocrine carcinoma of gallbladder (GB-NEC).Methods The data of 10 patients with GB-NEC treated in our hospital between December 2007 and December 2012 were retrospectively analyzed and compared with the data of 377 patients with gallbladder adenocarcinoma.Results The 10 patients with GB-NEC accounted for 2.2％ (10/464) of all gallbladder cancers that were treated during the study period.The mean age was 59.0 ± 10.0 years,the ratio of male to female was 1 ∶ 4.All the 10 patients had low-differentiated small cell NEC,four patients were accompanied with an adenocarcinoma.Immunohistochemical examinations showed that the positive rates of CgA,NSE,Syn,EMA were 100％ (10/10),100％ (10/10),88.9％ (8/9) and 87.5％ (7/8),respectively.One,two and seven patients had a TNM grade Ⅱ,ⅣA,and ⅣB,respectively.Seven patients (70.0％) had N2 lymphatic metastases,which was significantly higher than the percentage in patients with gallbladder adenocarcinoma (128/377,34.0％ ; P ＜ 0.05).Two patients were treated with radical resection,while the other 8 patients were treated with palliative surgery.The 1-,2-,and 3-year survival rates of the patients with GB-NEC were 20.0％,10.0％,and 0,respectively.The median survival time was 92 days.In contrast,the 1-,2-,3-,and 5-year survival rates of the 377 patients with gallbladder adenocarcinoma were 32.7％,25.4％,21.3％,and 11.7％ respectively,and the median survival time was 180 days.Condusions GB-NEC was found mainly in aged females.The clinical presentations were mainly non-specific,and immunohistochemical examinations were needed for a definite diagnosis.GB-NEC is highly malignant,and local invasion and lymphatic metastasis could occur early.The short-term recurrence rate was very high.The prognosis of GB-NEC was poorer than gallbladder adenocarcinoma,while surgical resection combined with radiotherapy,chemotherapy and TACE increased the survival of these patients.