Cholecystectomy with gallbladder bed cautery might be sufficient for T1bN0M0 neuroendocrine carcinoma of gallbladders

INTRODUCTION Neuroendocrine carcinoma was a rare kind tumor in gallbladders. So far, there is no consensus of treatment of the gallbladder neuroendocrine carcinoma. CASE PRESENTATION Three patients, 1 male and 2 females, were admitted in our hospital because of right upper quadrant pain. No one complained fever, jaundice, weight loss, or carcinoid syndrome-related symptoms such as diarrhea, flushing, edema, and wheezing. The MRI detected the broad base of gallbladder tumors. However, they refused any radical surgery. We performed a laparoscopic cholecystectomy with gallbladder bed cautery. The pathology results showed that 2 cases were mixed neuroendocrine carcinoma (NECs), and 1 case was a simple NEC. Chromogranin A and synaptophysin were positive in all cases. The pathological TNM stages of all patients were in the T1bN0M0 stage. The range of Ki-67 was from 40% to 80%. During the at least 26 months' follow-up, there is no case with the recurrence of the carcinoma without any chemotherapy or radiotherapy. CONCLUSIONS Cholecystectomy with gallbladder bed cautery might be enough for treatment of T1bN0M0 gallbladder neuroendocrine carcinoma.