Systematic Reviews
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Oncol. Dec 24, 2021; 12(12): 1244-1263
Published online Dec 24, 2021. doi: 10.5306/wjco.v12.i12.1244
Carcinosarcoma of gallbladder: A world review
Thomas Zheng Jie Teng, Branden Qi Yu Chua, Vishal G Shelat
Thomas Zheng Jie Teng, Branden Qi Yu Chua, Vishal G Shelat, Department of General Surgery, Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Singapore 308433, Singapore
Thomas Zheng Jie Teng, Undergraduate Medicine, Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Singapore 308232, Singapore
Author contributions: Teng TZJ, Chua BQY and Shelat VG contributed to the conception of the idea and writing of the paper.
Conflict-of-interest statement: There is no conflict of interest to declare.
PRISMA 2009 Checklist statement: The authors have read the PRISMA 2009 Checklist, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the PRISMA 2009 Checklist.
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: Vishal G Shelat, FRCS (Gen Surg), Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of General Surgery, Tan Tock Seng Hospital, 11 Jln Tan Tock Seng, Singapore 308433, Singapore. vgshelat@rediffmail.com
Received: March 14, 2021
Peer-review started: March 14, 2021
First decision: May 4, 2021
Revised: May 14, 2021
Accepted: November 24, 2021
Article in press: November 24, 2021
Published online: December 24, 2021
Processing time: 284 Days and 21 Hours
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background

Literature on gallbladder carcinosarcoma (GBCS) is currently scarce, with less than 100 cases reported since the first case by Karl Lansteiner.

Research motivation

While there has been efforts by Zhang et al in 2008 to consolidate the literature, there has not been a review of the current literature since.

Research objectives

This study aims to fill this gap by providing a comprehensive overview of GBCS.

Research methods

A literature review was performed on the PubMed database using the keywords “Gallbladder” AND “Carcinosarcoma” from 1970 to 2021, where relevant articles were included. Animal studies, gallbladder carcinoma and non-gallbladder pathology as well as articles that were not in English or Japanese were excluded.

Research results

GBCS is more common in females. Gallstones and chronic cholecystitis are risk factors for GBCS. Serum biochemistry and tumor markers a have limited role in diagnosis. Typical imaging modalities can assist to establish a diagnosis in patients with suspicious gallbladder lesions. Multiple imaging modalities are complementary. Multidisciplinary oncology board discussions are essential to guide management plans. Surgery is currently the only curative option for GBCS, and size of the tumor does not impact prognosis.

Research conclusions

While most features of GBCS parallel that of carcinomas of the gallbladder clinically, identification of GBCS specifically allows clinicians to determine overall prognosis. Due to paucity of reported cases, more evidence is required before meaningful and valid evidence-based patient-centric recommendations can be made.

Research perspectives

Due to the paucity of the number of reported cases, more active reporting of such should be encouraged to further understand this malignancy.