GALLBLADDER POLYPS: CORRELATION AND AGREEMENT BETWEEN ULTRASONOGRAPHIC AND HISTOPATHOLOGICAL FINDINGS IN A POPULATION WITH HIGH INCIDENCE OF GALLBLADDER CANCER

Abstract

ABSTRACT BACKGROUND: Gallbladder polyps are becoming a common finding in ultrasound. The management has to consider the potential risk of malignant lesions. AIMS: The aim of this study was to analyze the ultrasound findings in patients undergoing cholecystectomy due to gallbladder polyps and compare them for histopathological findings (HPs). METHODS: Patients with an ultrasonographic diagnosis of gallbladder polyp and who underwent cholecystectomy from 2007 to 2020 were included in the study. RESULTS: A total of 447 patients were included, of whom 58% were women. The mean age was 45±12 years. The mean size of polyps in US was 7.9±3.6 mm. Notably, 9% of polyps were greater than 10 mm, and single polyps were significantly larger than the multiple ones (p=0.003). Histopathological findings confirmed the presence of polyps in 88.4%, with a mean size of 4.8±3.4 mm. In all, 16 cases were neoplastic polyps (4.1%), 4 of them being malignancies, and all were single and larger than 10 mm. We found a significant correlation between ultrasound and histopathological findings polyp size determination (r=0.44; p<0.001). The Bland-Altman analysis obtained an overestimation of the US size of 3.26 mm. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis between both measures obtained an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of 0.77 (95%CI 0.74–0.81). Ultrasound polyps size larger than 10 mm had an odds ratio (OR) of 8.147 (95%CI 2.56–23.40) for the presence of adenoma and malignancy, with a likelihood ratio of 2.78. CONCLUSIONS: There is a positive correlation and appropriate diagnostic accuracy between ultrasound size of gallbladder polyps compared to histopathological records, with a trend to overestimate the size by about 3 mm. Neoplastic polyps are uncommon, and it correlates with size. Polyps larger than 10 mm were associated with adenoma and malignancy.