Until 30 years ago, little was known about polypoid lesions of the gallbladder. They were occasionally noted by the anatomist and pathologist, but rudely ignored by the physician and surgeon, until general interest in the subject was aroused by Kirklin's paper on the radiological diagnosis of these lesions.1 Since then, considerably more attention has been paid to the subject, and with increasing advances being made in the field of diagnostic radiology, these lesions are being recognized more frequently. Nevertheless, we believe that polypoid lesions of the gallbladder are considerably more common that the literature would lead one to believe.
Present Series
Our cases were collected during the 5-year period from 1954 to 1959. All polypoid lesions of the gallbladder associated with calculi or cholecystitis have been excluded—the detection of polypoid lesions with either of the latter 2 conditions is not clinically significant because the indication for cholecystectomy then