CASE REPORT article

Front. Oncol.

Sec. Surgical Oncology

Volume 15 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fonc.2025.1609239

Gallbladder adenocarcinoma diagnosed retrospectively after initial resection of abdominal wall adenocarcinoma with unidentified primary source: a case report and review of the literature

Provisionally accepted
Kendall  VignaroliKendall Vignaroli*Kevin  PerezKevin PerezAngel  GuanAngel GuanSo  Un KimSo Un KimSharmila  RajuSharmila RajuCarolyn  LeachCarolyn LeachJudi  Anne B RamiscalJudi Anne B Ramiscal
  • Arrowhead Regional Medical Center (ARMC), Colton, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

Gallbladder carcinoma is the most common malignancy found within the biliary tract, and is most often diagnosed incidentally after cholecystectomy is performed. Port site metastasis discovered after removal of gallbladder carcinoma is not entirely unusual, however recommendations for definitive management of these metastasis sites do not yet exist. We report a rare case of incisional site seeding diagnosed prior to the discovery of gallbladder adenocarcinoma in a healthy 59 year old female with a history of open cholecystectomy performed in an outside country. Ultimately this patient's case was staged as stage IVb disease as determined by an extensive multidisciplinary tumor board discussion, and was managed with observation, frequent physical exams, and surveillance imaging. Our patient's survival is 2 years and 7 months to date after index cholecystectomy. Management of our unprecedented case of gallbladder carcinoma diagnosed retrospectively after the initial discovery of incisional site metastasis is a difficult one, and management of unique oncologic scenarios should utilize a multidisciplinary tumor board approach.

Keywords: gallbladder carcinoma1, Metastasis2, incisional site seeding3, abdominal wall mass4, delayed diagnosis5

Received: 10 Apr 2025; Accepted: 19 May 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Vignaroli, Perez, Guan, Kim, Raju, Leach and Ramiscal. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Kendall Vignaroli, Arrowhead Regional Medical Center (ARMC), Colton, United States

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