Benign gallbladder lesions mimicking cancer infiltrating the liver

Considering the current improved resectability of advanced gallbladder cancers, differentiation from benign gallbladder lesions mimicking advanced cancer is now a significant problem to be overcome so that unnecessary extended operations can be avoided. During the 4 years from January 1989 to December 1992, we experienced 63 patients with elevated lesions of the gallbladder, including cancer. Among the 59 patients who underwent resection, preoperative imaging diagnostic procedures were suggestive of cancer in 27. In particular, the lesions of 14 patients appeared to be cancerous with hepatic infiltration. Frozen section histological examinations were performed on the specimens of 4 of these patients in whom the findings were inconsistent; all of them were shown non-cancerous. The final diagnoses in these 4 patients were: hyperplastic polyp with foreign body granuloma, xanthofibromatous granulation, localized type adenomyomatosis, and chronic cholecystitis. Resections were performed on the remaining 10 patients who had lesions suspected to be cancerous with infiltration to the liver. Nine lesions were confirmed as cancer by histological examination of the resected specimen. However, the lesion of the remaining patient, who underwent hepatopancreatoduodenectomy, proved after operation, to be a hamartoma with foreign body granuloma. Of the imaging diagnostic procedures, a combination of endoscopic or intraoperative ultrasonography and computerized tomography was most valuable for making the differential diagnosis between gallbladder cancer and benign gallbladder lesions mimicking cancer infiltrating the liver. However, frozen section histological examination should not be omitted before the extended operations are performed, even though en bloc resection is preferable because the procedures used to obtain the specimens have the potential to disseminate viable cancer cells.