Skip to main content
Log in

Contribution of gallbladder polyp surgery to treatment

  • original article
  • Published:
European Surgery Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Summary

Background

Surgery is the preferred treatment for gallbladder polyps, not only for relieving the symptoms but also for eliminating the potential risk of malignancy. In our study, we investigated whether patients who had undergone surgery truly had a surgical indication and beyond question required laparoscopic cholecystectomy due to malignancy.

Materials and methods

185 patients who were prediagnosed with gallbladder polyps were operated in VKV American Hospital, Istanbul between January 2004 and July 2015. Retrospective data of all patients included patients’ age, gender, symptoms, preoperative ultrasonography, pathology reports, radiologic findings regarding the number and size of the polyps, and postoperative follow-up.

Results

140 out of 185 patients were symptomatic before surgery. 85 patients (60.7 %) reported that their symptoms persisted after they had undergone surgery. 20 (14.3 %) of the patients with postoperatively persisting symptoms had no polyps in their pathologic examination. Only 35 out of 140 patients (25 %) reported relief of symptoms following surgery. Postoperative pathologic investigation revealed adenocarcinoma in only 1 patient and adenomatous polyps in 2 patients.

Conclusion

Postoperative pathologic investigations reveal only a very small percentage of premalignant and malignant polyps among patients who have undergone laparoscopic cholecystectomy. This finding clearly points out that we require new methods to differentiate cholesterol polyps from adenomatous polyps. Furthermore, the surgical indication criteria for patients with gall bladder polyps should be updated to prevent futile operations and morbidity.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Ito H, Hann LE, D’Angelica M, et al. Polypoid lesions of the gallbladder: diagnosis and follow up. J Am Coll Surg. 2009;208(4):570–5.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Csendes A, Burgos AM, Csendes P, Smok G, Rojas J. Late follow-up of polypoid lesions of the gallbadder smaller than 10 mm. Ann Surg. 2001;234(5):657–60.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  3. Matos ASB, Baptista HN, Pinheiro C, Martinho F. Gallbladder polyps: how should they be treated and when? Rev Assoc Med Bras. 2010;56(3):318–21.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Inui K, Yoshino J, Miyoshi H. Diagnosis of gallbladder tumors. Intern Med. 2011;50(11):1133–6.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Sarkut P, Kilicturgay S, Ozer A, Ozturk E, Yilmazlar T. Gallbladder polyps: factors affecting surgical decision. World J Gastroenterol. 2013;19(28):4526–30.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  6. Gallahan WC, Conway JD. Diagnosis and management of gallbladder polyps. Gastroenterol Clin North Am. 2010;39(2):359–67.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Yeh CN, Jan YY, Chao TC, Chen MF. Laparoscopic cholecystectomy for polypoid lesions of the gallbladder: a clinicopathologic study. Surg Laparosc Endosc Percutan Tech. 2001;11(3):176–81.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Azuma T, Yoshikawa T, Araida T, Takasaki K. Differential diagnosis of polypoid lesions of gallbladder by endoscopic ultrasonography. Am J Surg. 2001;181(1):65–70.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Kratzer W, Haenle MM, Voegtle A, et al. Ultrasonographically detected gallbladder polyps: a reason for concern? A seven year follow up study. BMC Gastroenterol. 2008;15(8):41.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Akyurek N, Salman B, Irkorucu O, Sare M, Tatlicioglu E. Ultrasonography in the diagnosis of true gallbladder polyps: the contradiction in the literature. HPB (Oxford). 2005;7(2):155–8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Yang HL, Sun YG, Wang Z. Polypoid lesions of the gallbladder: diagnosis and indications for surgery. Br J Surg. 1992;79(3):227–9.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Lee KF, Wong J, Li JC, Lai PB. Polypoid lesions of the gallbladder. Am J Surg. 2004;188(2):186–90.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Kubota K, Bandai Y, Noie T, Ishizaki Y, Teruya M, Makuuchi M. How should polypoid lesions of the gallbladder be treated in the era of laparoscopic cholecystectomy? Surgery. 1995;117(5):481–7.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Kozuka S, Tsubone N, Yasui A, Hachisuka K. Relation of adenoma to carcinoma in the gallbladder. Cancer. 1982;50(10):2226–34.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tolga Aliyazicioglu.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

T. Aliyazicioglu, S. Carilli, A. Emre, A. Kaya, D. Bugra, O. Bilge, T. Yalti, B. Kabaoglu, and A. Alper state that there are no conflicts of interest.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Aliyazicioglu, T., Carilli, S., Emre, A. et al. Contribution of gallbladder polyp surgery to treatment. Eur Surg 49, 23–26 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10353-016-0422-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10353-016-0422-4

Keywords

Navigation