Carcinoma of gall bladder in Central India – Is there a shifting trend?

Abstract

To evaluate the demographic and clinicopathological profile of patienst with gall bladder cancer. A total of 464 patients of gall bladder cancer were taken in the study from January 2017 till December 2021. Both demographic and clinicopathological data was obtained retrospectively from the medical record database. We found that there is a shift in age group over the period of 5 years with most of the patients previously being in the age group 61–70 years with a recent shift in the last two years to the age group 51-60 years. Majority of the patients were females coming from a rural background. Most of them had a non – vegetarian diet. Addiction in the form of tobacco chewing and smoking was present in 44.8% and 18.7% respectively and alcohol intake was seen in 12.2%. The most common site of disease was found to be involving the body 69.3%. Less commonly the disease was reported at the neck. Almost all patients had adenocarcinoma as the histology with moderate grade of differentiation. 96.7% of pateints presented to us in the advanced stage. Stage IVB presentation was seen in 54.3% of patients. Majority of the patients had a direct and lymphatic mode of dissemination. Presence of gall stone was seen in 36.2% of patients. Pain was the most common presenting symptom followed by jaundice and obstruction. In our country, incidental GBC is fairly underreported due to no active screening program to detect patients with symptomatic gallstones undergoing routine cholecystectomy. These patients can be easily detected if there is a higher index of suspicion prior to, during as well as after surgery.