Elementos morfológicos pronósticos en el cáncer de la vesícula biliar

background: the exact survival rates and prognostic factors of gallbladder cancer are still incompletely known. aim: to report the actuarial survival of patients with gallbladder cancer. material and methods: six hundred thirty seven women, aged 59 years old as a mean and 108 men, aged 64 years old as a mean, with gallbladder cancer are reported. patients were followed for up to 150 months. results: two hundred twenty four patients had an early and 521 had an advanced carcinoma. overall survival was 38% at ten years. sex or ethnic origin did not influence survival. early tumors had a 92% survival at 10 years whereas the survival of advanced tumors was 16% at 5 years. subserous tumors had a 5 years survival of 32% whereas serous tumors had a 5 years survival of 11%. well-differentiated advanced tumors had a significantly better survival than moderately or poorly differentiated tumors. vascular or lymphatic infiltration was also associated to a lower survival. all patients with advanced tumors and vascular infiltration died before 5 years. conclusions: tumor infiltration and differentiation degree were the most important prognostic independent factors in gallbladder cancer (rev méd chile 2002; 130: 387-395)