Predictive factors for incidental gallbladder cancer (IGBC) in patients undergoing cholecystectomy for presumed benign disease. A single-center experience.

AIM: The incidence of incidental gallbladder cancer (IGBC) is estimated at 0.3-2.1%. The purpose of our study is to evaluate IGBC incidence in our department and to establish its predictive factors, considering patients' clinical characteristics and pre-operative ultrasound gallbladder features. MATERIAL OF STUDY: From January 2012 to December 2015, 434 patients (225 females and 209 males) were enrolled in this retrospective observational study in our General Surgery Department. To analyze potential predictive factors, we divided all the patients into two groups: patients with and without histological diagnosis of IGBC. We focused our attention on the patients' clinical characteristics and preoperative ultrasound gallbladder measurements RESULTS: Seven cases were post-operatively identified as incidental gallbladder cancer (IGBC) and after histological examination an IGBC incidence of 1.6% was encountered. DISCUSSION: Considering the increasing numbers of video laparoscopic cholecystectomies (VLC) performed worldwide, cases of IGBC are appearing more frequently. In most cases of IGBC, a second surgical look will be necessary because of feasibility and safety procedures. CONCLUSIONS: There is no possibility to establish which risk factors might be predictive for IGBC because of a discordance in the literature and a statistical analysis with low sample size. An accurate surgical procedure needs to be performed to reduce the spread of neoplastic cells and, as a result, improve long-term outcomes. KEY WORDS: Incidental Gallbladder cancer, Laparoscopy, Ultrasound.