Case Report
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2022. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Apr 26, 2022; 10(12): 3856-3865
Published online Apr 26, 2022. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v10.i12.3856
Successful multimodality treatment of metastatic gallbladder cancer: A case report and review of literature
Biao Zhang, Shuang Li, Zhao-Yi Liu, Karieshinie Ghandalie Kalandika Peiris, Li-Fu Song, Mu-Cang Liu, Peng Luo, Dong Shang, Wei Bi
Biao Zhang, Shuang Li, Zhao-Yi Liu, Karieshinie Ghandalie Kalandika Peiris, Li-Fu Song, Mu-Cang Liu, Peng Luo, Dong Shang, Wei Bi, Department of General Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University, Dalian 116000, Liaoning Province, China
Author contributions: Zhang B, Li S, and Liu ZY wrote and corrected the manuscript; Peiris KGK and Song LF reviewed and corrected the manuscript; Liu MC, Luo P, Shang D, and Bi W were the patient´s surgeon; Shang D and Bi W supervised and edited the manuscript; all authors approved the final version of the manuscript.
Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 81873156 and No. 82000075; Liaoning Province Education Foundation, No. LZ2019051; and National Natural Science Foundation of Liaoning, No. 2020-BS-195.
Informed consent statement: Informed written consent was obtained from the patient for publication of this report and any accompanying images.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no 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: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Wei Bi, MD, PhD, Chief Doctor, Doctor, Professor, Department of General Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University, No. 222 Zhongshan Road, Xigang District, Dalian 116011, Liaoning Province, China. biwei1767@sina.com
Received: July 30, 2021
Peer-review started: July 30, 2021
First decision: September 1, 2021
Revised: September 25, 2021
Accepted: March 5, 2022
Article in press: March 5, 2022
Published online: April 26, 2022
Processing time: 265 Days and 5.9 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Gallbladder cancer is the most common malignant tumor in the biliary system, and it is characterized by high aggressiveness and an extremely poor prognosis. Current treatment for advanced gallbladder cancer remains unsatisfactory. Here, we report a patient with advanced gallbladder cancer who was cured by multidisciplinary treatment.

CASE SUMMARY

A 73-year-old male presented to our hospital with right abdominal pain for 3 d and was diagnosed with stage IVB gallbladder cancer with multiple liver metastases, peritoneum metastasis, diaphragm metastasis and lymph node metastases. The patient initially received chemotherapy, targeted therapy, 125I seed implantation and immunotherapy, as there were no specific indications for radical surgery. During these palliative therapies, the level of tumor markers gradually decreased but remained higher than the normal level, lymph node metastases gradually disappeared, and liver metastasis was gradually limited to the left liver. Finally, the patient received radical surgery with left hepatectomy, radical lymphadenectomy and partial diaphragmatic resection. To date, the patient has survived for more than six years posttreatment, the levels of tumor markers are normal, and imaging examinations show no signs of tumor recurrence.

CONCLUSION

Currently, the prognosis of advanced gallbladder cancer remains unsatisfactory. A single treatment method is not sufficient for patients with advanced gallbladder cancer. Multidisciplinary individualized treatment is essential and should be utilized for advanced gallbladder cancer patients to further improve prognosis.

Keywords: Advanced gallbladder cancer; Multidisciplinary treatment; Long-term survival; Case report

Core Tip: The prognosis of advanced gallbladder cancer is extremely poor. Many clinicians and even experienced surgeons are confused and pessimistic about the treatment of advanced gallbladder cancer. Here, we report a patient with stage IVB gallbladder cancer with multiple liver metastases, peritoneum metastasis, diaphragm metastasis, and lymph node metastases who was cured by multidisciplinary treatment. Although the prognosis of metastatic gallbladder cancer remains extremely poor in the current medical field, the presented case highlights the importance of providing aggressive multidisciplinary treatment to appropriately selected patients with metastatic gallbladder cancer to achieve long-term survival.