The gallbladder neck cancer and perihilar cholangiocarcinoma present as painless progressive surgical obstructive jaundice. Sometimes it becomes difficult to differentiate between them even on cross-sectional imaging studies including computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging. Staging laparoscopy and positron emission tomography may be useful in detecting metastases in gallbladder neck cancer, but are not recommended in perihilar cholangiocarcinoma. Most patients with gallbladder neck cancer and perihilar cholangiocarcinoma require preoperative biliary drainage. The differentiation is, however, important because their behavior and prognosis are totally different. Gallbladder neck cancer is biologically aggressive, thus long-term surviver are rare even after major resection. On the other hand, perihilar cholangiocarcinoma is often less aggressive and major proceduresresections are justified. Gallbladder neck cancer and perihilar cholangiocarcinoma, though not siblings, they tend to look alike sometimes.
Cholangiocarcinoma* ; Drainage ; Gallbladder* ; Hand ; Head and Neck Neoplasms* ; Humans ; Jaundice, Obstructive ; Laparoscopy ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Positron-Emission Tomography ; Prognosis ; Siblings*

Abnormal attachment of the gallbladder to the liver is the main cause for gallbladder torsion. However, the present study reports a rare case of gallbladder torsion in which a portion of fundus is rotated along the axis of body. So far, very few similar cases have been reported. An 87-year-old woman complaining right upper quadrant abdominal pain for 4 days was admitted. Her body temperature was 38.5degrees C with moderate dehydration. A large tender mass was palpated on the right abdomen extending to the right iliac fossa. Computed tomography of abdomen showed a large cavity with a diameter of 15 cm containing a big stone and a small normal looking gallbladder. Ultrasonographic scan showed a twisted portion of the gallbladder torsion. During emergency laparotomy, the middle portion of the gallbladder was found to be twisted counterclockwise with huge gangrenous gallbladder distal. The proximal body of the gallbladder was spared and attached firmly to the liver. Cholecystectomy was performed and the patient was discharged 2 weeks later without postoperative complications. Histological findings of specimen were consistent with operative findings. The current study reports on a rare case of gallbladder torsion by reviewing previous studies.
Abdomen ; Abdominal Pain ; Aged, 80 and over ; Axis, Cervical Vertebra ; Body Temperature ; Cholecystectomy ; Dehydration ; Emergencies ; Female ; Gallbladder* ; Gallstones ; Humans ; Laparotomy ; Liver ; Postoperative Complications

Carcinoid tumors arising in the extrahepatic bile duct are very rare, accounting for only 0.2%~2% of all gastrointestinal carcinoid tumord. We experienced one case of a carcinoid tumor in the common bile duct. A 43-years-old man was unexpectedly found to have a carcinoid tumor of the common bile duct. This patient had no obstructive jaundice, yet we thought that this tumor was a clinically malignant tumor, so we performed pylorus preserving pancreatoduodenectomy. Pathologically, an ill-demarcated mass that measured 1.5x1.5cm in size had invaded into the pancreas. Immunohistochemically, the mass was founded to be chromogranin, synaptophysin and CD56 positive. The patient who underwent curative resection is alive and disease-free at time of this publication. This report also reviews the relevant literature on carcinoid tumors in the common bile duct.
Bile Ducts, Extrahepatic ; Carcinoid Tumor* ; Common Bile Duct* ; Humans ; Jaundice, Obstructive ; Pancreas ; Pancreaticoduodenectomy ; Publications ; Pylorus ; Synaptophysin

PURPOSE: The incidence of multiple primary malignant tumor has ranged from 0.7% to 11% in the medical literature. Various organs in the digestive system are the sites of multiple primary cancer (MPC). MPC may be synchronous or metachronous depending on the interval between their diagnosis. To the best of our knowledge, there are only rare reports of resected cases of synchronous primary carcinomas that developed in the GB and duodenum. METHODS: We present here a patient who underwent an operation for synchronous primary carcinomas of the GB and duodenum. A 51-year-old female was admitted for postprandial abdominal discomfort. CT scan and MRI of the abdomen showed a 3 x 2 cm sized heterogenously enhancing mass in the GB and a 3.7 x 2.7 cm sized hetrogenously enhancing mass in the 2nd portion of the duodeum. The laboratory findings, including the tumor markers, were non-specific. An elective operation was done under the impression of combined GB cancer and cancer in the 2nd portion of the deuodenum. On the operative findings, there was a 3 x 2.5 cm sized mass in the GB and a 5 x 4 cm sized duodenal mass with near complete luminal obstruction 3 cm distal from the pyloric ring. Radical cholecystectomy with wedge resection of the liver bed and Whipple's operation was performed. RESULTS: On microscopic examination, the GB mass was well differentiated adenocarcinoma and the duodenal mass was moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma, and one lymph node (a lymph node along the common hepatic artery) among the 18 dissected lymph nodes was invaded by tumor cells. The microscopic findings showed that the GB mass and duodenal mass were synchronous primary carcinomas. The patient recovered uneventfully and is alive and doing well without evidence of recurrence at 21-months of follow up evaluation. CONCLUSIONS: We report here on a case of combined curative resection for synchronous primary carcinomas of the gallbladder and duodenum.
Abdomen ; Adenocarcinoma ; Cholecystectomy ; Diagnosis ; Digestive System ; Duodenum* ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Gallbladder* ; Humans ; Incidence ; Liver ; Lymph Nodes ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Middle Aged ; Phenobarbital ; Recurrence ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; Biomarkers, Tumor

PURPOSE: Even with recent advances of diagnostic tools and therapeutic strategies, the prognosis of gallbladder cancers remains poor. The clinical outcome has not improved much over the past couple of decades. This study analyzed our surgical results to evaluate the prognostic factors associated with survival after surgery in patients with gallbladder malignancies. METHODS: Retrospective review of 69 patients with gallbladder carcinomas operated on at our surgical department over a period of 9 years from May 1995 to April 2004. RESULTS: The overall 5-year survival rate was 45.9%, 3-year survival rate 52.8% and 1-year survival rate 72.4%. The 5-year survival rates according to the AJCC stage were 0 100%, Ia 100%, Ib 71.0%, IIa 41.7%, IIb 23.8%, III 50.0%, and IV 11.0% for each. The 5-year survival rates according to the depth of invasion were Tis 100%, T1a 100%, T1b 66.6%, T2 57.1%, T3 36.8%, and T4 22.7%. A univariate analysis of clinicopathologic factors showed that the T stage, N stage, M stage, radical surgery, tumor location, surgical procedure and histological grade were significant prognostic factors. Multivariate Cox-regression analysis of these eight important factors demonstrated that lymph node metastases and the degree of radical surgery were independent variables associated with prognosis. CONCLUSION: The results of this study showed that lymph node metastases and degree of radical surgery were associated with patient prognosis. Therefore, long-term survival may be achieved by an early diagnosis with curative radical tumor resection.
Early Diagnosis ; Gallbladder Neoplasms ; Gallbladder* ; Humans ; Lymph Nodes ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies ; Survival Rate

PURPOSE: An laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) is being increasingly performed for benign gallbladder disease. Accordingly, gallbladder carcinomas have been increasingly reported in patients after undergoing an LC. This study aims to reveal the clinicopathological features and prognosis of gallbladder carcinomas found after an LC. METHODS: Between April 1994 and March 2007, 2714 patients underwent an LC and 1.5% of the patients were diagnosed histologically as having a gallbladder carcinoma. We retrospectively evaluated the clinicopathological features and long-term survival of the patients. RESULTS: There were 19 male patients and 21 female patients, with a mean age of 60.7 degrees+/-12.3 years. The indications for LC included acute calculous cholecystitis, chronic calculous cholecystitis and polypoid lesions of the gallbladder (PLGs). An LC only was performed in 26 patients (13 pT1a, 7 pT1b and 6 pT2 cases) while additional surgery including gallbladder bed resection and lymph node dissection was performed in 14 patients (2 pT1a, 2 pT1b, 8 pT2 and 2 pT3 cases). The patients with a carcinoma associated with PLGs were younger, had more incidence of pT1a and had well differentiated carcinomas and a better 5-year survival rate as compared to patients with a non-polypoid carcinoma. Whereas no recurrences or deaths occurred for the 24 pT1 patients, two of the 14 pT2 patients had a recurrence. Both pT3 patients had a recurrence despite additional surgery. In patients with pT2 or more, additional surgery did not improve survival (p = 0.82). CONCLUSION: The polypoid morphology of gallbladder carcinoma, but not additional surgery, favorably affects survival of gallbladder carcinoma patients following an LC. However, a further multi-institutional study may be needed to determine the benefit of additional surgery.
Cholecystectomy, Laparoscopic* ; Cholecystitis ; Female ; Gallbladder Diseases ; Gallbladder* ; Humans ; Incidence ; Lymph Node Excision ; Male ; Prognosis ; Recurrence ; Retrospective Studies ; Survival Rate

A 17-years old woman with a combination of unilateral pheochromocytoma and an asymptomatic islet cell tumor of the pancreas is presented. The unusual coincidence of pheochromocytoma and pancreatic islet cell tumor in the patient is of interest as a possible crossover between MEN I and MEN II. It has been suggested that MEN I represents an abnormality of the APUD(amine precursor uptake and decarboxylation) cells of ectodermal origin. However, the possibility of a common progenitor cell in the neural crest for all APUD cells has been suggested by Pearse and Polak(1971). Recent clinical reports suggest that overlap between the two syndroms may occur. The overlapping of elements of the classical endocrine neoplasia should alert clinicians to the possibility of such associations in any particular patients. Since islet cell tumors may occur in association with pheochromocytomas and may be clinically silent, exploration of the pancreas during surgery for pheochromocytomas would seem to be useful.
Adenoma, Islet Cell ; Adolescent ; APUD Cells ; Ectoderm ; Female ; Humans ; Islets of Langerhans* ; Male ; Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia Type 1 ; Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia Type 2a ; Neural Crest ; Pancreas ; Pheochromocytoma* ; Pyrus ; Stem Cells

The prognosis of distal pancreatic cancer is even poorer than that of pancreatic head cancer because of its late symptom onset and tendency of aggressive retroperitoneal invasion at diagnosis. Since the first Appleby's operation in 1952, it has been performed in stomach cancer by several surgeons. But the survival benefit is still controversial. Appleby's operation includes total gastrectomy, splenectomy, distal pancreatectomy, celiac trunk division with ligation of common hepatic artery(CHA) and retroperitoneal lymph node dissection. In 1976, Nimura first adopted this method for distal pancreatic cancer. We report a case of modified Appleby's operation for distal pancreatic cancer. The patient was 44- year old female. Her chief complaint was epigastric pain for 2 weeks. Preoperative liver function test was within normal range and CA19-9 was elevated to 200 U/ml. Preoperative CT angiography showed 4.5x3cm sized, pancreatic mass in body and tail area invading splenic artery and celiac trunk from its left side. In operation, splenectomy and distal pancreatectomy was initially performed. After ligation of CHA, we confirmed intact proper hepatic artery(PHA) flow by doppler and then divided CHA. After confirmation of intact gastric blood flow, left gastric artery(LGA) was divided. Celiac axis(CA) was divided near its origin. Then we dissected retroperitoneal lymph nodes. There was minor pancreatic leakage controlled by conservative management. CA19-9 was normalized to 33 U/ml on the 16th postoperative day. She was discharged on the 28th postoperative day and underwent adjuvant chemotherapy and radiotherapy. There is no evidence of recurrence for 15 months of follow-up. We suggest that modified Appleby's operation should be considered for radical resection of distal pancreatic cancer which is invading CA or major CA branch but not involving PHA and superior mesenteric artery(SMA), if the CA root is resectable and PHA flow is intact from SMA after ligation of CHA.
Angiography ; Chemotherapy, Adjuvant ; Diagnosis ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Gastrectomy ; Head and Neck Neoplasms ; Humans ; Ligation ; Liver Function Tests ; Lymph Node Excision ; Lymph Nodes ; Pancreatectomy ; Pancreatic Neoplasms* ; Prognosis ; Radiotherapy ; Recurrence ; Reference Values ; Splenectomy ; Splenic Artery ; Stomach Neoplasms

Pancreatic carcinoma constitutes to be a major unsolved health problems worldwide. Because of difficulties in diagnosis, the aggressiveness of pancreatic cancers, and the lack of effective systemic therapies, only less than 5% of patients with pancreatic cancer will be alive 5 years after diagnosis. At the time of diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, less than 20% of patients present with tumors that are confined to the pancreas, and therefore only 10~20% undergo resection with curative intent. The majority of patients present with locally advanced and metastatic disease, whose median survival is only 6~9 months and 3~6 months, respectively. The result of chemotherapy, mainly based on 5-FU, have documented low response rate and little impact on survival or quality of life. However, during the past 10 years, a real progress has been made in the area of chemotherapy for pancreatic cancer with the introduction of gemcitabine. Gemcitabine have shown improved overall survival (5.65 months vs. 4.41 months) and clinical benefit response (23.8% vs. 4.8%) compared with standard 5-FU-based chemotherapy. Therefore, gemcitabine has replaced 5-fluorouracil-based chemotherapy as the standard of care. Subsequent trials have also suggested that combinations of gemcitabine with other agents, such as cisplatin, irinotecan or capecitabine, may further improve clinical benefits in patients with advanced pancreatic cancers. One promising combination is gemcitabine plus oxaliplatin (GEMOX), that was reported in 2003. The response rate of GEMOX and gemcitabine alone was 25.8% and 16.1% (p=0.05). The time to progression was also significantly prolonged in GEMOX arm compared to gemctabine (25 weeks vs 16 weeks). In addition, other several efforts including alternative method of gemibitabine infusion as well as novel drug-combination have been made to improve the prognosis. Novel drugs include pemetrexed, S-1, cetuximab, and bevacizumab, etc. For instance, the response rate and 1-year survival of patients who treated with gemicitabine plus bevacizumab, a monoclonal blocking antibody of VEGF, was 38% and 54%, respectively. In conclusion, a shift in paradigms has occurred in the management of pancreatic cancer with respect to systemic therapy. The use of chemotherapy improved survival, reduced tumor-related symptoms, and achieved significant clinical benefit response in one third of patients. New targets for therapy through rapidly evolving understanding of the molecular biology of pancreatic cancer hold promise for even more effective treatment in the near future.
Arm ; Carcinoma, Pancreatic Ductal ; Cisplatin ; Diagnosis ; Drug Therapy* ; Fluorouracil ; Humans ; Molecular Biology ; Pancreas ; Pancreatic Neoplasms* ; Prognosis ; Quality of Life ; Standard of Care ; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A ; Bevacizumab ; Capecitabine ; Cetuximab ; Pemetrexed

In Korea, the incidence of pancreatic cancer was 9th and the mortality was 5th in 2002. The unique modality to cure is a surgery, however the resectability is around 10~20%. The survival data of pancreatic cancer after resection in '60s ~'70s were disappointing; operative mortalities were as high as 20~30% with 5-year survival rates were about 5%. However, from '90s, there have been several papers which reports the operative mortalities less than 5% and the 5-year survival rates over 20% after resection. However it is not clear whether survival in pancreatic cancer after surgery has been really improving or not. Prognostic factors in pancreatic cancer after resection can be classified into 3 categories; factors related to the patient, the tumor and the surgeon. At present, the most important prognostic factors are tumor factors such as tumor size, lymph node metastasis, depth of invasion, and histological differentiation. The factors related to the minimal residual disease or molecular biologic studies would get more concern. Staging in the malignancy is very important in predicting the prognosis and determining the adjuvant therapies. Good stages should be a good prognosis predictor and be simple as well. In pancreatic cancer, TNM staging from AJCC/UICC has been used worldwide and the 6th edition was published in 2001. JPS (Japanese pancreatic society) staging for pancreatic cancer, compared to AJCC staging, is better in predicting the prognosis but somewhat complicated. Studies for the prognostic factors and staging for Korean pancreatic cancer cases should be followed.
Humans ; Incidence ; Korea ; Lymph Nodes ; Mortality ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Neoplasm Staging ; Neoplasm, Residual ; Pancreatic Neoplasms* ; Prognosis ; Survival Rate