What question did this study set out to answer?

This research aims to evaluate whether patients with incidentally discovered gallbladder cancer have improved outcomes compared to those with symptomatic cases.

April 28, 2026Open Access

Single-Centre Experience of Gallbladder Cancer in the United Kingdom: Do Patients With Incidentally Discovered Malignancy After Gallbladder Surgery Have Better Outcomes?

Key Points

This research aims to evaluate whether patients with incidentally discovered gallbladder cancer have improved outcomes compared to those with symptomatic cases.
Retrospective review of electronic records
Included 47 patients diagnosed with gallbladder carcinoma or dysplasia
Data collected from a single-centre in the UK between January 2014 and July 2024
Median age of patients was 72 years, with 85% being female
55.3% had metastatic advanced cancer at diagnosis, and 76.5% experienced overall mortality
Incidentally discovered cases showed better survival outcomes than symptomatically evident cancer

Abstract

Background Biliary tract cancers refer to a spectrum of invasive tumours, usually adenocarcinomas, arising from the gallbladder or cystic duct (gallbladder carcinoma or GBC) or the biliary tree (cholangiocarcinoma or CCA) and represent a minority of all human cancers. Risk factors of GBC are old age, female gender, and gallstones, which represent the strongest risk factor, in addition to congenital biliary tree malformations and obesity. Methods This was a retrospective review using electronic records of all the patients admitted at a single centre in the UK, between January 2014 and July 2024, who were diagnosed with GBC or dysplasia. The study included 47 patients. Results Forty-seven patients were analysed, with a median age of 72 years. Forty-one of them were female patients, and six were male patients, with a mean BMI of 25.5 and the mode of American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) was three. Approximately 80% of the patients had gallstones, and about 70.2% of the cases were diagnosed before having an operation, if any. More than half of the patients (55.3%) had metastatic advanced cancer at the time of diagnosis. Moreover, about 81% of the patients were managed palliatively with either palliative chemotherapy or best supportive care. However, overall mortality was high (76.5%). Conclusion The management of gallbladder cancer requires a multidisciplinary approach, with surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy playing pivotal roles. Our study showed that incidentally discovered gallbladder cancer carries better survival outcomes than symptomatically evident cancer. Radical surgery combined with adjuvant therapies offered the best survival outcomes for early-stages (TIb, T2) and locally advanced GBC (T3). Further research is needed to explore different modalities to screen, diagnose early, and effectively treat advanced cases of GBC, with better survival results.

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