Gall bladder carcinoma (GBC) is a debilitating and one of the commonest malignancies especially twice more common among women in the GBC belt of north india. Due to its late inconspicuous presentation and advanced stage at initial diagnosis it has one of the poorest prognoses among the malignancies and has a mean survival of 6 months. An early diagnosis is rare and ultrasound diagnosis is difficult and at times unreliable due to subjective discrepancies. Studies have identified striking geographic differences where inordinately high occurrence in north Indians living in the Gangetic belt yet low elsewhere especially in the south and western India. Incidence of GBC in women in northern India is as high as 9 per 1,00,000 per year as compared to 1 per 1,00,000 per year in southern India. Female sex, oily fried foods, long intervals between meals, congenital biliary tract anomalies and a genetic predisposition represent important risk factors. GBC are most commonly associated with cholelithiasis and chronic inflammation from biliary tract and parasitic infections Environmental triggers. Mortatlity rate is very high with 5 year survival rate at 5%. Recent advances in operative treatment shows promising results, making it even more essential to detect a GBC early on in the spectrum of the disease. : Due to late presentation the commonest finding was an infiltrating mass which carried a bad prognosis requiring some from screening mechanism for early detection of GBC.

Keywords: gall bladder carcinoma, geographic difference, cholelithiasis, incidence, ultrasound.

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Dr Sithanthaseelan M.

DMRD. DNB. EDIR, Senior Resident, Department of Radiology, MGM, Medical College, Kishanganj, Bihar, India