Aggressive surgical management of gallbladder cancer: at what cost?

Prognostic utility of the modified albumin-bilirubin score among patients undergoing curative-intent surgery for gallbladder cancer

BACKGROUND

Gallbladder cancer (GBC) has been associated with high rates of recurrence and dismal prognosis even after curative-intent resection. The prognostic utility of the modified albumin-bilirubin (mALBI) score among individuals undergoing curative-intent resection for GBC has not been determined.

METHODS

Patients who underwent radical resection for GBC between 2000 and 2022 were identified from an international, multi-institutional database. Preoperative albumin and bilirubin levels were used to calculate the mALBI score. The relationship among mALBI score, overall survival (OS), and recurrence-free survival (RFS) was examined.

RESULTS

Among 269 patients who underwent radical resection for GBC, 161 (59.9%) had mALBI grade 1, 48 (17.8%) had grade 2a, 47 (17.5%) had grade 2b, and 13 (4.8%) had mALBI grade 3. After surgery, compared with patients with a low mALBI grade (grade 1/2a), individuals with a high mALBI grade (grade 2b/3) had worse 5-year OS (54.4% vs 19.2%, respectively; P < .001) and RFS (42.0% vs 17.8%, respectively; P < .001). On multivariable analysis, after controlling for relevant clinicopathologic variables, individuals with a high mALBI score remained independently associated with higher risks of death and recurrence (OS: hazard ratio [HR], 2.38 [95% CI, 1.50-3.79]; RFS: HR, 2.12 [95% CI 1.41-3.20]) versus patients with a low mALBI score after curative-intent resection for GBC. Of note, mALBI score was associated with incrementally worse survival within T2, T3, and N+ categories, whereas classic American Joint Committee on Cancer subclassifications failed to distinguish patients with long-term survival.

CONCLUSION

The mALBI score presents a simple, objective measure of hepatic functional reserve and may be a useful prognostic tool for patients undergoing curative-intent resection for GBC.

Evolving approaches in advanced gallbladder cancer with complete pathological response using chemo‑immunotherapy: A case report

The combination of chemotherapy and immunotherapy for metastatic cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) offers promising improvements in survival and response rates beyond traditional treatments. TOPAZ-1 and KEYNOTE-966 have demonstrated the efficacy of combining immunotherapy (durvalumab and pembrolizumab) with chemotherapy, even in gallbladder cancer (GBC), with a complete response rate of 2.7% in the TOPAZ-1 trial. Advanced CCA treated with immunotherapy combinations has shown complete responses influenced by high programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) or Epstein-Barr virus expression. These responses were enhanced by combining radiotherapy with programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) blockade. A 62-year-old man was diagnosed with unresectable GBC, distant lymphatic metastases, and local invasion of liver segments 4i and 5, the colonic hepatic flexure, the duodenal bulb, and the pancreatic head. Immunohistochemical examination revealed poorly differentiated squamous cell carcinoma, without expression of PD-L1. Next generation sequencing revealed the mutation of ERBB2 R678Q and a microsatellite stable tumour. The patient started chemo-immunotherapy with cisplatin-gemcitabine plus durvalumab in June 2022. After eight cycles, a significant reduction in tumour volume and markers was reported, and therapy with durvalumab was maintained through November 2023. The subsequent computed tomography scans showed further reduction in the tumour volume, and surgical resection was performed. Histological examinations confirmed the absence of residual tumour or lymph node metastases. As of June 2024, the patient has shown no signs of disease recurrence. Several reports of conversion surgery in GBC exist, but data on pre-surgical chemo-immunotherapy are limited. Furthermore, a complete response without pathological confirmation in CCA and GBC raises several questions regarding the need for surgery after immunotherapy. Although effective disease control and tumour regression have been reported in advanced GBC with combined anti-cytotoxic T-lymphocyte associated protein 4 and anti-PD-1 agents and chemotherapy, further studies are needed to identify reliable predictive biomarkers due to unclear associations with PD-L1 expression or tumour mutational burden. Overall, chemo-immunotherapy has been effective in treating metastatic CCA, especially when tailored to specific molecular profiles. These treatments may lead to complete responses and novel strategies.

Comparison of Survival Outcomes of Chemotherapy Plus Surgery vs Chemotherapy Alone for Patients With Isolated Liver Metastases From Gallbladder Carcinoma

BACKGROUND

Chemotherapy is the standard of treatment for metastatic gallbladder carcinoma (GBC). It is unclear whether chemotherapy plus surgery improves the survival outcomes of patients with isolated liver metastases from GBC. We aimed to investigate the survival benefits of chemotherapy plus surgery in GBC with isolated liver metastases compared to those of chemotherapy alone.

METHODS

We identified 406 patients with isolated liver metastases from GBC who underwent chemotherapy alone or chemotherapy plus surgery between 2010 and 2015 from Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results. Patients were divided into 3 subgroups: group I, chemotherapy alone (n = 263); group II, chemotherapy combined with cholecystectomy (n = 116); and group III, chemotherapy combined with cholecystectomy plus hepatectomy (n = 27). The cancer-specific survival and overall survival were evaluated.

RESULTS

Compared with group I, group II revealed a longer survival time (P < .001). In addition, the survival time of the group III was also prolonged (P < .001). Multivariate cox analysis showed that treatment strategy was an independent prognostic factor.

CONCLUSION

Chemotherapy combined with resection of the primary tumor plus or not plus resection of the metastatic lesions may be beneficial in GBC with isolated liver metastases.

Misdiagnosis of carcinoma gall bladder in endemic regions

Background

Incidental carcinoma gall bladder and benign disease in radical cholecystectomy specimen is the cause of concern. We attempted to find out the incidence and reasons thereof in the present study.

Methods

Present study is a retrospective analysis of a prospectively maintained database between July 2002 and July 2019. All patients with a diagnosis of carcinoma gall bladder admitted for surgery were included.

Results

Out of 148 patients, 110 patients had carcinoma gall bladder (CAGB), while 38 patients (25.7%) had incidental carcinoma (under-diagnosis). Radical resection was done in 61/110 (55.4%) patients with clinical CAGB, where 15 (24.6%) patients had benign pathology (“over-diagnosis”). Overdiagnosis was due to xanthogranulomatous cholecystitis (n = 9), chronic cholecystitis (n = 2), tuberculosis (n = 2) and IgG4 related cholecystitis (n = 2). Among 61 patients, a history of weight loss and anorexia were significantly associated with malignancy. Asymmetrical wall thickness was significantly more common in benign mimickers.

Among patients with incidental carcinoma, preoperative ultrasonography reported normal wall thickness of gall bladder in 28 (73.7%), thickened gall bladder wall in 6, and polyp in 3 patients. The resectability rate among incidental carcinoma was 27/38 (71.05%).

Conclusion

Over-diagnosis of the carcinoma gall bladder was present in 24.6%. On the other hand, incidental carcinoma comprised 25.7% of all admissions for carcinoma gall bladder with resectability of 71%.

Locally advanced gallbladder cancer treated with effective chemotherapy and subsequent curative resection: a case report

Background

Surgical resection of gallbladder cancer with negative margins is the only potentially curative therapy. Most patients with gallbladder cancer are diagnosed in an advanced stage and, despite the availability of several chemotherapies, the prognosis remains dismal. We report a case of locally advanced gallbladder cancer that was successfully treated with effective cisplatin plus gemcitabine, followed by curative resection.

Case presentation

A 55-year-old Japanese female was hospitalized with right hypochondrial pain. Enhanced computed tomography revealed a 49 × 47 mm mass at the neck of the gallbladder, with suspected invasion of the liver and right hepatic artery. Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography demonstrated displacement of the upper bile duct. Intraductal ultrasonography showed irregular wall thickening and disappearance of the wall structure in bile ducts from the B4 branch to distal B2 and B3. Percutaneous transhepatic biliary biopsy revealed a poorly differentiated carcinoma. The patient was diagnosed with unresectable gallbladder cancer (T4N0M0 stage IVA). Cisplatin plus gemcitabine chemotherapy was initiated. After six courses of chemotherapy, enhanced computed tomography showed that the mass in the neck of the gallbladder had shrunk to 30 mm, Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography showed improvement of the hilar duct stenosis. A biopsy of the bile duct mucosa showed no malignant cells in the branch of the left and right hepatic ducts, the left hepatic duct, or the intrapancreatic ducts. The patient underwent conversion surgery with right and segment 4a liver resection, extrahepatic duct resection, and cholangiojejunostomy. The histopathologic diagnosis showed that the tumor cells had shrunk to 2 × 1 mm, and that R0 resection of the T2aN0M0 stage IIA tumor was successful.

Conclusion

Although conversion surgery for gallbladder cancer is rarely possible, curative resection may offer a better prognosis, and it is important to regularly pursue possibilities for surgical resection even during chemotherapy.

A phase III randomised clinical trial of perioperative therapy (neoadjuvant chemotherapy versus chemoradiotherapy) in locally advanced gallbladder cancers (POLCAGB): study protocol

INTRODUCTION

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) is considered the current standard for locally advanced gallbladder cancer (GBC). There is no consensus on the optimal neoadjuvant approach. A pilot study from our institution has shown improved overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) with neoadjuvant chemoradiation (NACRT). The present randomised phase III trial is designed to compare NACRT with NACT alone and will test the superiority of chemoradiation in terms of tumour downstaging and improvement in OS.

METHODS AND ANALYSIS

Patients with biopsy-proven locally advanced GBC (T3-4) with predefined clinical-radiological features will be randomised to the gemcitabine-based chemotherapy-alone arm or the chemoradiation arm. Patients with resectable disease or with distant metastases will be excluded. The primary end point of the study is to compare OS between the two arms. The secondary end point was to compare PFS, R0 resection rates, acute and late toxicity, postoperative complications and quality of life between the two study arms. The trial is designed to detect an improvement in median OS by 5.5 months in the study arm (11 months in the control group, HR of 0.7) with 80.0% power at a 0.05 significance level. The resultant sample size to achieve this aim is 314 (157 in each arm) over a duration of 5 years with a 10% attrition rate.

ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION

The institutional ethics committee has approved this trial and will be routinely monitoring the trial at frequent intervals. The results of the study will be disseminated via peer-reviewed scientific journals, conference presentations and submission to regulatory authorities.

REGISTRATION

The trial is registered with Clinical Trials Registry India (CTRI/2016/08/007199) and ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT02867865). This trial aims to assess the superiority of NACRT over NACT in locally advanced GBCs in terms of improvement in OS. The results of this study will define the optimal neoadjuvant approach in locally advanced GBC.

TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER

NCT02867865; Pre-results.

Positive relationship between number of negative lymph nodes and duration of gallbladder cancer cause-specific survival after surgery

Background

Although the prognostic implications of negative lymph nodes (NLNs) has been reported for a variety of tumors, little information has been published about the NLNs in gallbladder cancer (GBC).

Patients and methods

In this study, clinicopathological characteristics and survival times of patients who had undergone surgery for GBC were collected from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program-registered TNM stage database and analyzed. Univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazards models were used to identify the predictors of survival.

Results

It was found that a cutoff of one to two NLNs is optimal when assessing the association with survival, survival rates being consistently better with two or more NLNs than with fewer than two. This optimal cutoff value of 2 was identified as an independent prognostic factor by univariate and multivariate analyses (all P<0.001). Specifically, patients with two or more NLNs had better 5-year gallbladder cancer cause-specific survival than those with fewer than NLNs examined for stage I/II, stage III/IV, and all TNM stages (all P<0.001).

Conclusion

Our findings indicate that the number of NLNs is an independent prognostic factor after GBC surgery, and, together with the number of positive lymph nodes, this will provide better prognostic information than the number of positive lymph nodes alone.

Surgical treatment of gallbladder cancer: Strategy and optimization

Gallbladder cancer is the most common malignant tumor of the biliary tract. It is difficult to diagnose early due to the lack of special symptoms and physical signs. Most cases are diagnosed in advanced stages and the response to traditional chemotherapy and radiotherapy is extremely limited, with modest impact on overall survival. Despite improvements in outcome associated with extended resections, selection of patients for such extensive surgery remains controversial. In this article, we analyze and discuss the key issues about the surgical management of gallbladder cancer, with the hope of a more comprehensive recognition of this malignancy.

Surgical approaches to advanced gallbladder cancer : a 40-year single-institution study of prognostic factors and resectability

PURPOSE

The aim was to evaluate prognostic factors and factors associated with the resectability of advanced gallbladder cancer (GBC).

METHODS

This was a single-institution retrospective review of 274 consecutive surgically-treated cases of advanced GBC (excluding incidental GBC and early GBC). Univariate and multivariate analysis were performed to assess prognostic variables. R0 resection and survival rates were investigated for each local extension factor.

RESULTS

Long-term survival was uncommon among patients with multiple liver metastases (H2-3: n = 22; 2-year survival, 0 %), dissemination (P1-3: n = 16; 3-year survival, 0 %), invasion through the hepatoduodenal ligament (Binf3: n = 45; 5-year survival, 4.6 %), or group 3 lymph node (LN) metastasis including of the para-aortic LN (N3: n = 52; 13.7 %). Long-term survival rates did not differ significantly between patients who did and did not undergo bile duct resection or pancreaticoduodenectomy. Survival did not differ significantly according to the type of hepatectomy performed.

CONCLUSION

Surgery may not be indicated for patients with multiple liver metastasis, dissemination, Binf3, or visible para-aortic LN metastasis. Furthermore, it is important to achieve R0 surgery in cases of GBC.