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Laparoscopic Surgery for Gallbladder Neuroendocrine Carcinoma: a Case Series and Literature Review

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Abstract

Gallbladder neuroendocrine carcinomas (GB-NECs) are a group of rare and heterogeneous neoplasms. There are few reports regarding laparoscopic surgery for GB-NEC cases diagnosed at advanced stage. Three patients, two females and one male, were admitted to our hospital. Two patients had the chief complaint of upper quadrant pain and one patient was found to have gallbladder occupation during a routine health checkup. No patient complained of jaundice, weight loss, or carcinoid syndrome–related symptoms including diarrhea, edema, flushing, and wheezing. Contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) examination showed local wall thickening of the gallbladder. In addition, one patient showed focal liver parenchymal invasion, and none of the three patients’ preoperative imaging examination revealed lymph node (LN) metastases. All three patients underwent laparoscopic radical cholecystectomy according to intraoperative frozen pathological examination, and they were diagnosed as GB-NEC based on postoperative pathology and immunohistochemistry. TNM stages of these patients were IIIA (T3N0M0), IIIB (T3N1M0), and IVB (T3N2M0), respectively. Chromogranin A (CgA) and synaptophysin (Syn) were positive in all cases. No patient encountered postoperative bleeding, bile leakage, abdominal abscess, gastrointestinal fistulas, or pulmonary complication. Two patients underwent postoperative chemotherapy with two cycles and seven cycles of etoposide plus cisplatin, respectively. Another patient did not receive postoperative chemotherapy due to his poor general condition. The overall survival time of the three patients was 4.6 months, 16.8 months, and 8.5 months, respectively. All three patients presented with liver and/or bile duct recurrence after surgery with a tumor-free survival time of 2.3 months, 3.3 months, and 3.0 months, respectively. Laparoscopic surgery may be considered a potential treatment for advanced GB-NEC in selected patients. However, further studies are needed to investigate the tumor-free survival benefit of laparoscopic surgery, and whether expanding the resection scope could reduce postoperative recurrence.

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Data Availability

The data sets during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

The study was supported by the Zhejiang Provincial National Science Foundation Committee (NSFC) of China (LQ19H160015).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, Zhejiang Provincial People’s Hospital, People’s Hospital of Hangzhou Medical College, Shangtang Road 158, Zhejiang Province, 310014, Hangzhou, China

    Hongwu Chu, Changwei Dou, Fangqiang Wei, Chengwu Zhang, Jungang Zhang & Dongsheng Huang

  2. Department of Postgraduates, Qingdao University, Qingdao, China

    Hongwu Chu, Jungang Zhang & Dongsheng Huang

  3. Pathology, Zhejiang Provincial People’s Hospital, People’s Hospital of Hangzhou Medical College, Hangzhou, China

    Li Jin & Ying Shi

  4. Obstetrics and Gynecology, Zhejiang Provincial People’s Hospital, People’s Hospital of Hangzhou Medical College, Hangzhou, China

    Ying Shi

Authors
  1. Hongwu Chu
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  2. Li Jin
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  3. Ying Shi
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  4. Changwei Dou
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  5. Fangqiang Wei
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  6. Chengwu Zhang
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  7. Jungang Zhang
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  8. Dongsheng Huang
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Contributions

Hongwu Chu and Jungang Zhang designed the study; Hongwu Chu drafted the manuscript; Li Jin provided the histopathological slides. Ying Shi collected the clinical data; Changwei Dou, Fangqiang Wei, and Chengwu Zhang performed the operation; Jungang Zhang and Dongsheng Huang reviewed the manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Jungang Zhang or Dongsheng Huang.

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Ethics Approval and Consent to Participate

The case report was approved and supervised by the Clinical Research Ethics Committee of the Zhejiang Provincial People’s Hospital of Hangzhou, China.

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Written informed consents for publication of patients’ clinical details and clinical images were obtained from patients.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Chu, H., Jin, L., Shi, Y. et al. Laparoscopic Surgery for Gallbladder Neuroendocrine Carcinoma: a Case Series and Literature Review. Indian J Surg 83 (Suppl 3), 789–794 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12262-021-02923-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12262-021-02923-x

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