Carcinoid tumor of the gallbladder: report of a case

Abstract

We report herein the rare case of a 40-year-old woman with a 10-year history of dull abdominal pain, in whom a carcinoid tumor of the gallbladder was confirmed by postoperative histological findings. A review of the world literature revealed that only 22 other such cases have been documented, all of which were diagnosed by incidental findings at the time of surgery or at post mortem. Although these patients may present with liver metastasis, rarely do they manifest with features of a carcinoid syndrome. The rarity of this entity prompted us to present our patient's case report, followed by a brief review of the literature on the previous 22 cases.