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The standard operation to remove the gallbladder, almost always by keyhole surgery for gallstones. When a cancer is found in the removed gallbladder it is also the first, and for the earliest tumours the only, cancer operation.
Answer a few questions from a report and read the guideline statement that applies, quoted word for word with its source. Educational aids to prepare for an appointment, not advice.
Simple cholecystectomy removes the gallbladder alone, in the UK usually laparoscopically for symptomatic gallstones or cholecystitis. Because 0.25 to 0.89 percent of specimens contain an unsuspected cancer (Soreide 2019), the operation is also how most gallbladder cancers are diagnosed. For carcinoma in situ and T1a tumours with a clear cystic duct margin it is curative, with five-year survival up to 100 percent (Soreide 2019); for T1b and deeper tumours guidelines add a second, radical operation. Whether T1b truly needs more than a simple cholecystectomy is contested: a 2026 meta-analysis of 26 cohorts found better overall but not disease-specific survival with extended surgery (Cho 2026), and 950 National Cancer Database patients showed no survival difference (median 89.5 versus 91.4 months; Rhodin 2024). Spillage of bile or perforation during the operation raises the risk of peritoneal and port-site spread when a cancer is present (Soreide 2019). More than 9,000 cholecystectomies a year are performed in Denmark alone, and whether every specimen needs histological examination is under study (Lerche-Jorgensen 2025).
Shares Carcinoma in situ and dysplasia of the gallbladder, Surgery for gallbladder cancer: simple versus radical cholecystectomy, re-resection and lymphadenectomy, Gallbladder adenocarcinoma, Incidental gallbladder cancer (found after cholecystectomy) and the tags gallbladder, biliary.
Shares Surgery for gallbladder cancer: simple versus radical cholecystectomy, re-resection and lymphadenectomy, Gallbladder adenocarcinoma, Incidental gallbladder cancer (found after cholecystectomy), Radical (extended) cholecystectomy and the tags gallbladder, biliary.
Shares Surgery for gallbladder cancer: simple versus radical cholecystectomy, re-resection and lymphadenectomy, Incidental gallbladder cancer (found after cholecystectomy), Radical (extended) cholecystectomy, Gallbladder cancer and the tags gallbladder, biliary.
Shares Carcinoma in situ and dysplasia of the gallbladder, Gallbladder cancer and the tags gallbladder, biliary.
Shares Papillary carcinoma of the gallbladder, Gallbladder adenocarcinoma, Radical (extended) cholecystectomy, Gallbladder cancer and the tags gallbladder, biliary.
Shares Surgery for gallbladder cancer: simple versus radical cholecystectomy, re-resection and lymphadenectomy, Gallbladder adenocarcinoma, Radical (extended) cholecystectomy, Gallbladder cancer and the tags gallbladder, biliary.
Shares Papillary carcinoma of the gallbladder, Carcinoma in situ and dysplasia of the gallbladder, Gallbladder cancer and the tags gallbladder, biliary.
Shares Gallbladder cancer and the tags gallbladder, biliary.