Gallbladder Cancer Laparoscopy

Abstract

The role of laparoscopy in the diagnosis of gallbladder cancer was evaluated. Fifeen patients who were suspected of having gallbladder cancer, following physical examination, laboratory tests, and imaging techniques, received laparoscopy at our clinic, and the laparoscopic findings and histologies were analyzed. Five patients in whom the gallbladder was observed were laparoscopicallv confirmed as having gallbladder cancer, and in 2 of these cases metastases to the liver were observed. Among the 10 patients in whom the gallbladder could not be observed, metastases to the liver and the peritoneum were observed in 6 and 3 cases, respectively. I n 3 cases neither the gallbladder nor metastases to other tiisceral organs could be observed. Thus, the qualitative rate of laparoscopic diagnosis was 80% (12115 cases). Five cases (42%) among the 12 cases in which laparoscopy suggested gallbladder cancer, were histologically confirmed after biopsy specimens were obtained. Only one of these cases was diagnosed by direct forceps biopsy of the gallbladder wall.