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Case Report
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2026. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastrointest Surg. Jan 27, 2026; 18(1): 114477
Published online Jan 27, 2026. doi: 10.4240/wjgs.v18.i1.114477
Gallbladder small cell carcinoma from chronic cholecystitis: A case report and review of literature
Jia-Qi Yu, Xue-Song He, Yu-Zhe Xue, Ling-Yu Hu, Xu Wen, Xiao-Dan Yang, Xue Zhou
Jia-Qi Yu, Yu-Zhe Xue, Jiaxing University Master Degree Cultivation Base, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou 310053, Zhejiang Province, China
Xue-Song He, Ling-Yu Hu, Xu Wen, Xiao-Dan Yang, Xue Zhou, Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Jiaxing University, Jiaxing 314000, Zhejiang Province, China
Co-first authors: Jia-Qi Yu and Xue-Song He.
Author contributions: Yu JQ and He XS contributed equally to this work and conceptualized the study as co-first authors; Zhou X supervised the project and was responsible for critical revision of the manuscript; Xue YZ and Hu LY collected the clinical data and prepared the figures; Wen X and Yang XD performed the literature review and data analysis; Yu JQ and He XS wrote the original draft of the manuscript; Zhou X reviewed and edited the final version; all authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript to be published.
Informed consent statement: The patient has signed the written informed consent form.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read the CARE Checklist (2016), and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CARE Checklist (2016).
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: Xue Zhou, MD, Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Jiaxing University, No. 1518 Huancheng North Road, Nanhu District, Jiaxing 314000, Zhejiang Province, China. zhouxuechn@163.com
Received: September 22, 2025
Revised: October 18, 2025
Accepted: November 21, 2025
Published online: January 27, 2026
Processing time: 123 Days and 15.8 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: Gastrointestinal neuroendocrine tumors are relatively common, but gallbladder small cell carcinoma (SCC) is an extremely rare subtype, with limited clinical reports and no established treatment guidelines. Most clinicians manage SCC as gallbladder cancer, yet the 5-year survival rate for early- and mid-stage SCC exceeds 94%, significantly higher than that of typical gallbladder adenocarcinoma. Misdiagnosis and delayed treatment can significantly increase mortality. Due to the rarity of cases, clinicians often lack familiarity with the clinical features and imaging characteristics of gallbladder SCC, leading to diagnostic challenges. This report highlights the importance of timely recognition and radical surgical management to improve outcomes.