An J, Ahn SH, Kim KH, Heo JY, Yeo MK. Twenty-year temporal trends, risk profiles, and prognostic value of clinicopathological features in gallbladder cancer following cholecystectomy. World J Gastroenterol 2026; 32(7): 111478 [DOI: 10.3748/wjg.v32.i7.111478]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Min-Kyung Yeo, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Pathology, Chungnam National University School of Medicine, Munwha-ro 266, Jung-gu, Daejeon 35015, South Korea. mkyeo83@gmail.com
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Gastroenterology & Hepatology
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Retrospective Study
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This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Feb 21, 2026 (publication date) through Feb 6, 2026
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World Journal of Gastroenterology
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1007-9327
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An J, Ahn SH, Kim KH, Heo JY, Yeo MK. Twenty-year temporal trends, risk profiles, and prognostic value of clinicopathological features in gallbladder cancer following cholecystectomy. World J Gastroenterol 2026; 32(7): 111478 [DOI: 10.3748/wjg.v32.i7.111478]
World J Gastroenterol. Feb 21, 2026; 32(7): 111478 Published online Feb 21, 2026. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v32.i7.111478
Twenty-year temporal trends, risk profiles, and prognostic value of clinicopathological features in gallbladder cancer following cholecystectomy
Jeongyeon An, So-Hyun Ahn, Kyung-Hee Kim, Jun Young Heo, Min-Kyung Yeo
Jeongyeon An, Kyung-Hee Kim, Min-Kyung Yeo, Department of Pathology, Chungnam National University School of Medicine, Daejeon 35015, South Korea
Jeongyeon An, Jun Young Heo, Min-Kyung Yeo, System Network Inflammation Control Research Center, Chungnam National University, Daejeon 35015, South Korea
So-Hyun Ahn, Department of Psychiatry, Chungnam National University School of Medicine, Daejeon 35015, South Korea
Jun Young Heo, Department of Biochemistry, Chungnam National University School of Medicine, Daejeon 35015, South Korea
Jun Young Heo, Department of Medical Science, Chungnam National University School of Medicine, Daejeon 35015, South Korea
Author contributions: An J and Ahn SH contributed equally to this manuscript and are co-first authors. An J and Yeo MK contributed to the resources, data curation, conceptualization and validation, supervision, writing - original draft, and writing - review and editing; Kim KH and Yeo MK participated in the formal analysis; Ahn SH, Heo JH, and Yeo MK contributed to the funding, supervision and project administration. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Supported by Korea Health Technology R&D Project Through the Korea Health Industry Development Institute funded by the Ministry of Health & Welfare, Republic of Korea, No. RS-2020-KH088690; and National Research Foundation of Korea Grants funded by the Korean Government (MSIT), No. RS-2024-00406568 and No. RS-2023-00210264.
Institutional review board statement: This retrospective study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of Chungnam National University Hospital (No. CNUH IRB 2024-01-019-001).
Informed consent statement: This research was approved by the Institutional Review Board of Chungnam National University Hospital with a waiver of informed consent.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Data sharing statement: The data presented in this study are available on request from the corresponding author.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Min-Kyung Yeo, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Pathology, Chungnam National University School of Medicine, Munwha-ro 266, Jung-gu, Daejeon 35015, South Korea. mkyeo83@gmail.com
Received: July 1, 2025 Revised: August 15, 2025 Accepted: December 29, 2025 Published online: February 21, 2026 Processing time: 220 Days and 14.3 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Gallbladder cancer (GBC) is a rare but highly aggressive malignancy often diagnosed at an advanced stage. Owing to its relatively low incidence, the clinicopathologic features of GBC and its precursor lesions remain poorly understood and insufficiently explored.
AIM
To examine temporal trends and clinicopathological features in post-cholecystectomy GBC to identify risks profiles and prognostic value.
METHODS
In this retrospective study, 15785 patients who underwent cholecystectomy over a 20-year period at a single center were reviewed, among whom 285 were diagnosed with GBC. Clinicopathological features were compared among patients with benign conditions, precursor lesions, and GBC. Long-term temporal trends (2004-2023) were analyzed alongside clinicopathological characteristics and survival outcomes.
RESULTS
GBC cases increased over time (P = 0.002). Compared to benign or precancerous conditions, GBC patients were older (P = 0.000) and had higher hypertension and cholangitis rates (both P = 0.000). Total cholesterol, triglycerides, and albumin were lowest in GBC (P = 0.000, P = 0.010, P = 0.000), with higher levels linked to better survival (P = 0.003, P = 0.026, P = 0.016), and tumor budding, size, and poorly cohesive or undifferentiated components correlated with advanced stage and poorer prognosis (P = 0.015, P = 0.002, P = 0.002) on univariate analysis. Age, metabolic parameters, and inflammatory conditions influenced both GBC risk and prognosis.
CONCLUSION
The clinicopathologic characteristics of GBC highlight the value of recognizing high-risk profiles and underscore the prognostic significance of detailed histopathological evaluation.
Core Tip: This study examined temporal trends, clinicopathological features, and survival outcomes in post-cholecystectomy gallbladder cancer to identify risk factors for early detection and management. In this single-institutional study, our findings may be limited but still provide insights. Age, hypertension, cholangitis, and serological markers including total cholesterol, triglyceride, albumin were risk factors for cancer and related to survival outcomes. Pathological features, such as tumor budding, tumor size, and poorly cohesive or undifferentiated components were correlated with worse prognosis. These findings emphasize the value of early identification of high-risk profiles and the prognostic markers of gallbladder cancer.
