Incidence of gall bladder malignancy in patients with cholelithiasis

ABSTRACT

A prospective study was carried out in the Department of Surgery, Chandka Teaching Hospital Larkana from January 1997 to December 1998. One hundred cases of cholelithiasis were reviewed for malignancy [80 females and 20 males]. Out of these 10 percent patients were found to have carcinoma of the gall bladder. Their ages ranged from 41 to 69 years, with mean age of 52.2 years. Carcinoma of the gall bladder was found to be more common in the 5th decade of life. Common presenting symptoms were upper abdominal pain [100 percent] nausea and vomiting [80 percent], weight loss [50 percent], jaundice [40 percent] and anorexia [20 percent] Abdominal mass was palpable in two patients. Preoperative diagnosis with the help of ultrasound was possible only in three cases. Histopathologically, all the cases were adenocarcinomas. In majority of the cases, stones were mixed with cholesterol as a predominant component