Current practices and future prospects for the management of gallbladder polyps: A topical review

Table 1 Summary of evidence for association between potential risk factors and malignant gallbladder polyps

Risk factor	Direction of association	Strength of association	Related notable findings	Key references
Age	Positive	Probability of malignancy was 20.7% in those patients older than 50	This systematic review studied polyps less than 10 mm only	[38]
Sessile morphology	Positive	Probability of malignancy was 13.9% in sessile compared to pedunculated polyps	This systematic review studied polyps less than 10 mm only	[38]
Presence of gallstones	Inconclusive	Aldouri et al[47] found increased risk of malignancy with gallstones (HR = 3.2, 95%CI: 1.42-7.22) but Park et al[39] found no difference (P = 0.27)	There is no strong evidence to suggest there is a definite association	[39,47]
Indian Ethnicity	Positive	HR = 12.92 (95%CI: 3.77-44.29) This shows a significant HR but the width of the CI’s are noted.	This is the only study to compare risk between Indian ethnicity and Caucasian race	[47]
Primary sclerosing cholangitis	Positive	40%-60% of polyps in patients with PSC were malignant	33% of those with benign polyps had associated dysplasia	[56]