Gallbladder carcinoma: is it a rare disease in our community?

ABSTRACT

Gallbladder carcinoma has an unusual geographic and demographic distribution. It is more common in certain geographic areas and its incidence varies in different ethnic groups even within the same country. The aim of our study was to gauge the magnitude of the problem in a group of our patients. The hospital and histopathological records of 549 patients who underwent cholecystectomy in our institute in the period from January 1996 to December 2001 were retrospectively reviewed. There was a predominance of female patients undergoing cholecyslectomy [male to female ratio 14]. The mean age was 38.2 years. The histological results did not show any evidence of malignancy of the gallbladder in the patients studied. The incidence of gallbladder carcinoma in patients undergoing cholecystectomy in King Khalid University Hospital, Saudi Arabia, is low. Possible explanations are absence of industrial carcinogens, low incidence of smoking among women and relatively younger age of the group of patients who underwent cholecystectomy