PRIMARY CARCINOMA OF THE GALL BLADDER: REVIEW AND STUDY OF EIGHTY CASES IN EMAM-KHOMEINI MEDICAL CENTER

Abstract

In a r etrospective s t udy on the c ancer o f the gal l bladder, done in Iran, it s e ems tha t it compr ises 0 . 36% o f a ll the malignant tumors . 1 .7 5% of the patients were fema les and the maximum incidenc e wa s in t he s i x th decade of l i f e. It was interesting t o note that the age ratio bet ween t he males and f ema le s reverses with t he advance o f a ge, s o at the 7th and 8t h decade of life , the inciden ce o f the disease 1n males wa s muc h highe r than f emales.
At the 8th dec ade , the nun~er of male patients was twice as f emales . The presenting symptoms in most c a ses were; pain,j aun- d ice, l o s s o f we i gh t , and in a f ew c ases t here was a hist or y of long l asting s~np tom s , re fe r able t o the bili a ry s ystem. After admission and surgical opening of the abdomen , 60% o f patie nts we re c ons i dere d ino perable. Al l the pat ients suf fe ring f rom anaplast ic carcinoma , which comprised 5% of all case s , were female and had a long l ast i ng history of gall b ladder infe c tions. The prevalence o f stone f ormation in g a l l blad der malignancie s i s a known f act but whether t he c au s e of thi s coincidenc e i s due t o some factors, suc h as irritation dysp:asia,or only CO~~ Ibi na tion o f t hese , is not def i n i t ly known.