Introduction

Gallbladder cancer (GBC) is diagnosed often incidentally after cholecystectomies, with a rate of 0.1–3%.

Aim

To review the clinical and morphological aspects of GBC and pre-neoplastic lesions in patients who underwent cholecystectomy.

Material and methods

A total of 5026 patients who underwent cholecystectomy between January 1, 2012 and December 31, 2017 were included in the study. Histological changes (acute cholecystitis, adenomyomatosis, xanthogranulomatous cholecystitis (XGC), polyps, antral metaplasia, intestinal metaplasia (IM), dysplasia, cancer, and others) in gallbladders (GB) from 5029 patients who underwent cholecystectomy for cholelithiasis were analysed.

Results

Gallbladder cancer was more common in women than in men (14/4 = 3.5). A significant relation was found between cholelithiasis and GBC (p = 0.031). Of the patients with GBC, six had stage 1a (T1a + T1b), five had stage 1b (T2N0), two had stage 2 (T3N0), three had stage 2b (T1-3 N1), one had stage 3 (T4 N0), and one had stage 4 (T3N1M1). The IM was more common in females than in males (K/E = 3.3). A significant relationship was found between cholecystitis and IM (p < 0.001). A significant association was observed between IM and adenomyomatosis hyperplasia (p = 0.016).

Conclusions

In this study, it was observed that adenomyomatous hyperplasia and adenomatous polyp were associated with metaplastic changes in the GB pathologies, including XGC and follicular cholecystitis. It is thought that metaplasia-dysplasia may be associated with GBC. However, further studies on GB carcinogenesis are needed.