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

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.