Extrahepatic bile duct resection in the treatment of T3,T4 gallbladder carcinoma ZHENG Ya-xin*, ZHONG Ming-an, HU Hai, et al. *Department of General Surgery, Shanghai East Hospital, Tong Ji University, Shanghai 200120,China Corresponding author: ZHENG Ya-xin, E-mail：yxzheng@shmu.edu.cn Abstract Objective To evaluate the clinical significance of extrahepatic bile duct resection （EBDR）in the treatment of T3,T4 gallbladder carcinoma（GC） Methods Palliative cholecystectomy (n=8), radical/extended radical resection without EBDR (n=9), and radical/ extended radical resection with EBDR (n=7) were employed performed in 24 patients with T3,T4 GC admitted between January 2004 and December 2006 at Shanghai East Hospital Affiliated to Tong Ji University. Clinicopathologic factors, postoperative complications and survival of the 3 group patients were studied. Results The mean survival of patients after surgery were 4, 6 and 18 months in the 3 groups respectively. There were no significant differences in the proportion of age, sex and postoperative complications among the 3 groups of patients. The 7 patients who underwent radical or extended radical resection with EBDR showed significantly better survival than another two group of patients in whom EBDR was not carried out(P=0.003). Conclusion EBDR is a necessary surgical procedure and is key to the improved survival of patients with T3,T4 GC undergoing radical or extended radical resection.