Background: The role of adjuvant therapy in patients with resected gallbladder cancer (GBC) is unclear.
Methods: The American College of Surgeons National Cancer Data Base was used to identify patients with resected GBC (pathologic stage 1-3) from 1998 to 2006 (n = 6690). We compared three groups: surgery only (S, 78.6 %), surgery plus adjuvant chemotherapy (AC, 6.2 %), and surgery plus adjuvant chemotherapy and radiation therapy (ACR, 15.1 %). Univariate and Cox regression analyses were used to determine factors influencing overall survival and the use of adjuvant therapy.
Results: ACR was associated with improved survival for all patients (HR 0.77, 95 % CI 0.66-0.90), especially node-positive patients (HR 0.64, 95 % CI 0.53-0.78); AC was not associated with changes in survival. Patients were less likely to have their lymph nodes examined if they had any comorbidities, lower income, or were treated at community cancer centers (all p < 0.05). Among patients with unknown lymph node status, those with T2 or T3 disease saw improved survival with ACR (T2: HR 0.79, 95 % CI 0.63-0.99; T3: HR 0.43, 95 % CI 0.30-0.62), while AC did not affect survival.
Conclusion: ACR is associated with improved survival for patients with node-positive GBC, as well as those with T2 or T3 GBC with unknown lymph node status.
Keywords: Adjuvant therapy; Chemotherapy; Gallbladder cancer; Radiation; Surgery.