C78.6 and C23

[zolja]

Hello,

My mother had laparascopic op. and when they examined gallblader they found out that there was in situ cancer,G3,weakly differentiated,and they extracted as well lymph node who was also cancerous.
But her pain didn't stop so they did second operation, they opened her to see what is going on and they found non operabile cancer(C78.6 - 8 cm long - it is fixing arthery).
they didn't find that until they opened her,it was seen something few months ago on ultrasound(something light grey color) but on CT  there was nothing. She has pain in back,lost weight,blowdy.

Is it possible that this C78.6 cancer is Pseudomyxoma Peritonei cancer?
Thank you.

[Annekathryn Goodman, M.D.]

Dear Zolja, Thank you so much for your question.

I am so sorry to hear about your mother's situation.
It is possible that the reason your mother's cancer was missed at her first surgery was due to adhesions.

Laparoscopy can be a great tool to evaluate the abdomen and pelvis.
This is only true if one can see the whole abdomen.  If there are adhesions that close off certain areas of the abdomen, then then surgeon can only visualize a small area.  So I wonder if it was only possible to see the gall bladder but not the lower abdomen or pelvis.

Here is a link for some nice pictures of the laparoscopic removal of the gallbladder (laparoscopic cholecystectomy)  because I think this is a tough concept to understand if you have not seen these surgeries.

http://images.google.com/images?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4FUJB_enUS286US286&q=laparoscopic%20cholecystectomy&um=1&sa=N&tab=wi

Back to your question:

You should ask for copies of the operative notes and the pathology reports for your mother's two surgeries. This will help you undersatnd the exact situation.  The pathology report will give you the microscopic diagnosis.

I am assuming that "C 78.6 8 cm" has to do with the size of the tumor found. But a diagnosis requires the microscopic analysis.

best wishes