OBJECTIVETo analyze the clinical features of patients with gallbladder cancer from 17 hospitals in 5 Northwestern provinces (autonomous region) of China from 2009 to 2013.

METHODSA total of 2 379 cases with gallbladder cancer in 17 tertiary hospitals from 5 Northwestern provinces of China from January 2009 to December 2013 were reviewed retrospectively. The clinical data was collected by standardized "Questionnaire for Clinical Survey of Gallbladder Cancer in Northwestern Area of China". χ² test was used to analyze the data.

RESULTS(1) Gallbladder cancer from 17 hospitals accounted for 1.6%-6.8% of all bile tract diseases from 2009 to 2013 in Northwestern China, average was 2.7%. Gallbladder cancer accounted for 0.4%-0.9% of abdominal surgery, average was 0.7%. (2) The incidence of gallbladder cancer was higher in the aged females, the ration of female to male was 1.0 to 2.1. The average age of gallbladder cancer was (64 ± 11) years. The occupation of patients was mainly farmers (χ² = 147.10, P < 0.01). (3) 57.2% of the gallbladder cancers were associated with gallstones. (4) The main pathological patterns of gallbladder cancer were moderate and poor differentiated adenocarcinoma, showing an aggressive malignancy. TNM stage IV accounted for 55.1% of all cases, which was associated with the poor prognosis. (5) The curative resection rate was 30.4%.

CONCLUSIONSGallbladder cancer is common in the aged females and mainly at advanced stage. The screening and follow-up of high-risk groups with ultrasound and other methods regularly could increase the early diagnosis rate of gallbladder cancer, aggressive surgical resection combined with other comprehensive treatment could improve the prognosis of patients.