Gemcitabine-based adjuvant chemotherapy for patients with advanced gallbladder cancer.

Aim: We investigated effects of gemcitabine-based adjuvant chemotherapy (GEM) on prognosis of patients with gallbladder cancer. Patients and Methods: We retrospectively analyzed outcomes of 36 patients who underwent radical resection for gallbladder cancer from 2001 through to 2012, using chi(2) for prognostic factors and Kaplan-Meier estimator and log-rank tests for survival data. Results: The GEM group had higher rates of lymph node positivity and distant metastasis, higher UICC stage and fewer R0 resections; their 5-year survival rate (60%) did not significantly differ from that of the controls (70.0%), nor was GEM a significant prognostic factor in univariate analysis. However, among patients who underwent R1 and R2 resections, GEM significantly improved prognosis in both univariate and multivariate analyses. Median survival of the R1/2 GEM group (66.4 months) was significantly better than that of controls (5.4 months) (p=0.002). Conclusion: GEM improved prognosis of patients with gallbladder cancer after R1/R2 resections.