Abstract
Adenoendocrine cell carcinoma of the gallbladder is rare and has a dismal prognosis. Only 54 cases were reported in Japan from 1983 to 2004. A 59-year-old man was found to have an elevated lesion of the gallbladder in abdominal ultrasonography. This lesion grew gradually to almost 20mm in diameter as seen in CT and MRI. In laparoscopic cholecystectomy, the intraoperative frozen pathological diagnosis was suspected undifferentiated carcinoma, necessitating lymph node dissection and liver bed resection by open laparotomy. Neither liver metastasis nor peritoneal dissemination was seen. Immunohistochemical studies of tumor cells were positive for NCAM staining. The definitive pathological diagnosis was adenoendocrine cell carcinoma. Postoperatively, chemotherapy with CDDP and VP-16 and radiation therapy were conducted as is done in small cell carcinoma of lung. He has continued disease-free in the 24 months since resection.
