Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsTypesSymptomsCausesDiagnosisTreatmentSurvivalHow to Cope
Table of ContentsView All
View All
Table of Contents
Types
Symptoms
Causes
Diagnosis
Treatment
Survival
How to Cope
Gallbladder cancer is rare, although it is the most common type of cancer affecting thebiliary system. With early diagnosis and treatment, the chances of survival are greatly improved.However, a great cases many are discovered at an advanced stage when the condition is harder to treat.
One of the reasons why gallbladder cancer is diagnosed so late is that it is often asymptomatic (without symptoms) until the tumor has spread. It is only then that symptoms like abdominal pain andjaundice(yellowing of the skin and eyes) will start to develop.
This article looks at the symptoms, causes, and risk factors of gallbladder cancer, including how the disease is diagnosed and treated. It also describes current survival rates and ways to cope if you have been diagnosed with this uncommon form of cancer.
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Types of Gallbladder Cancer
The gallbladder is a small organ situated below the liver. Its primary function is to receive and store a digestive enzyme calledbilefrom the liver and release it into the small intestine to digest fat.
Gallbladder cancer occurs when cells in the gallbladder mutate and grow out of control, damaging the organ and invading other organs and tissues.
There are four main types of gallbladder cancer:
What Are the Symptoms of Gallbladder Cancer?
Gallbladder cancer usually progresses to a later stage before it causes any symptoms. It is only when the gallbladder or adjacent structures (like bile ducts or the pancreas or liver) are affected that symptoms occur.
Common symptoms of gallbladder cancer include:
Less common symptoms of gallbladder cancer include:
Causes and Risk Factors of Gallbladder Cancer
It is currently unknown what causes gallbladder cancer. However, certain risk factors are known to increase your vulnerability to the disease. Most of these risk factors are non-modifiable (meaning that you can’t change them) but some are.
Risk factors include:
Smoking may also contribute, but studies are split on whether cigarette smoke poses a tangible risk.
How Gallbladder Cancer Is Diagnosed
Gallbladder cancer is diagnosed based on a physical exam, a review of your medical history, imaging studies, and other tests and procedures. A biopsy provides a definitive diagnosis.
Among the tests used to diagnose gallbladder cancer are:
Staging of Gallbladder Cancer
When gallbladder cancer is confirmed, it is important to know what stage it is. Staging establishes how advanced a cancer is and helps make treatment decisions.
The staging is based on the TNM classification system which assesses the extent of tumor growth (T), the number of lymph nodes with cancer cells in them (N), or whether or not there is metastasis (M).
Based on the TNM classification system, there are four stages of gallbladder cancer:
ERCP Procedure to Diagnose and Treat Digestive Conditions
How Is Gallbladder Cancer Treated?
Some of the difficulty in treating gallbladder cancer comes from the fact that most cases are diagnosed at later stages. In addition, there is a lack of research on what the most effective treatments might be because this type of cancer is rare to begin with, and certain subtypes are even rarer.
Surgery
In most cases, treatment will start with surgery on the gallbladder to remove it; this is calledcholecystectomy. People can live without their gallbladder and often do not miss it.
Parts of the other affected organs may also be removed. For instance, if the cancer has spread to the liver, part of the liver and/or some bile ducts may also be removed. If there arelymph nodesinvolved, those may also need to be removed through surgery.
Surgery is the main treatment for squamous cell carcinoma. In some cases, radiation and chemotherapy might also be used after surgery.For adenosquamous carcinoma, surgery is most often used as a treatment, sometimes with chemotherapy.
Chemotherapy and Radiation
In some cases, chemotherapy and/or radiation may also be used after surgery. Whether or not these treatments are also used will depend greatly on the type of gallbladder cancer and the expected outcome of treatment.
For example, some patients may want to make decisions about other treatments based on whether or not those treatments may extend their lifespan or lead to remission.
Radiation therapyis the use of energy beams to kill cancer cells. This treatment is non-invasive. A machine delivers radiation to the patient as they lie on a table.
In patients who are diagnosed with Stage 4 metastatic cancer, surgery may not be an option.
Targeted Drug Therapy
Immunotherapy
Inimmunotherapy, a patient’s own immune system is used to target the cancer cells and destroy them. This is a newer type of treatment and may only be available in clinical trials for gallbladder cancer.
Palliative Care
When the cancer has advanced to the point that surgery can not remove it all and other therapies are not expected to work, certain other treatments may be used. If bile is not draining because bile ducts are blocked, a stent may be placed into the duct during an ERCP procedure to keep it open and help with drainage.
What is Palliative Care and How Does it Differ From Hospice?
What Is the Survival Rate of Gallbladder Cancer?
According to the American Cancer Society (ACS), the relative five-yearsurvival ratefor gallbladder cancer is 20%. This means that roughly one of every five people will live for five years or more following treatment.
Based on these definitions, the ACS reports the following five-year survival rates for people with gallbladder cancer:
How to Cope With Gallbladder Cancer
Gallbladder cancer is a challenging diagnosis to receive. It is normal to feel a range of emotions, especially because when diagnosed in the later stages, gallbladder carcinomas have a poorer prognosis. It may be helpful to have some coping mechanisms in place.
Working with physicians to learn about the diagnosis and what the treatments are is one way to cope. Writing down questions to bring to appointments and having a friend or family member come along can be helpful.
Letting family and friends know about the diagnosis and next steps will allow them to be supportive. People often ask what they can do when a loved one is diagnosed with cancer.
Some things that may help include providing transportation to and from appointments, bringing meals, picking up prescriptions, doing tasks around the house like cleaning and laundry, and shopping for groceries or other necessities.
Having a trusted person to confide in is also important. This could be a close friend or family member, a therapist, a social worker, or a clergyperson.
Support groupsfor people with cancer may also be available at the hospital or through the oncologist’s office. Every person will have their own preferred form of way of coping and having multiple options will be helpful.
Summary
Gallbladder cancer involves different types of cancers affecting different parts of the gallbladder. Because gallbladder cancer is often asymptomatic in the early stages, symptoms like jaundice may not appear until the cancer is advanced.
Gallbladder cancer can be diagnosed with blood tests, imaging studies, and a biopsy. Based on the stage of the disease, surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, immunotherapy, or targeted drugs may be used to cure or control the disease.
People with early-stage gallbladder cancer have better chances of long-term, disease-free survival.
8 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Akce M, Zakka K, Penley M, et al.Clinicopathological features and survival outcomes of rare histologic variants of gallbladder cancer.J Surg Oncol. 2019 Nov 28. doi:10.1002/jso.25781.Akce M, Zakka K, Penley M, et al.Clinicopathological features and survival outcomes of rare histologic variants of gallbladder cancer.J Surg Oncol. 2019 Nov 28. doi:10.1002/jso.25781.American Cancer Society.Risk factors for gallbladder cancer.Portincasa P, Di Ciaula A, de Bari O, Garruti G, Palmieri VO, Wang DQ.Management of gallstones and its related complications.Expert Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2016;10:93-112. doi:10.1586/17474124.2016.1109445American Cancer Society.Gallbladder cancer stages.Ayabe RI, Wach MM, Ruff SM, et al.Gallbladder squamous cell carcinoma: An analysis of 1084 cases from the National Cancer Database.J Surg Oncol. 2020 Jun 8. doi:10.1002/jso.26066.Murimwa G, Hester C, Mansour JC, et al.Comparative outcomes of adenosquamous carcinoma of the gallbladder: An analysis of the national cancer database.J Gastrointest Surg. 2020 Jul 23. doi:10.1007/s11605-020-04729-w.American Cancer Society.Survival rates for gallbladder cancer.
8 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Akce M, Zakka K, Penley M, et al.Clinicopathological features and survival outcomes of rare histologic variants of gallbladder cancer.J Surg Oncol. 2019 Nov 28. doi:10.1002/jso.25781.Akce M, Zakka K, Penley M, et al.Clinicopathological features and survival outcomes of rare histologic variants of gallbladder cancer.J Surg Oncol. 2019 Nov 28. doi:10.1002/jso.25781.American Cancer Society.Risk factors for gallbladder cancer.Portincasa P, Di Ciaula A, de Bari O, Garruti G, Palmieri VO, Wang DQ.Management of gallstones and its related complications.Expert Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2016;10:93-112. doi:10.1586/17474124.2016.1109445American Cancer Society.Gallbladder cancer stages.Ayabe RI, Wach MM, Ruff SM, et al.Gallbladder squamous cell carcinoma: An analysis of 1084 cases from the National Cancer Database.J Surg Oncol. 2020 Jun 8. doi:10.1002/jso.26066.Murimwa G, Hester C, Mansour JC, et al.Comparative outcomes of adenosquamous carcinoma of the gallbladder: An analysis of the national cancer database.J Gastrointest Surg. 2020 Jul 23. doi:10.1007/s11605-020-04729-w.American Cancer Society.Survival rates for gallbladder cancer.
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
Akce M, Zakka K, Penley M, et al.Clinicopathological features and survival outcomes of rare histologic variants of gallbladder cancer.J Surg Oncol. 2019 Nov 28. doi:10.1002/jso.25781.Akce M, Zakka K, Penley M, et al.Clinicopathological features and survival outcomes of rare histologic variants of gallbladder cancer.J Surg Oncol. 2019 Nov 28. doi:10.1002/jso.25781.American Cancer Society.Risk factors for gallbladder cancer.Portincasa P, Di Ciaula A, de Bari O, Garruti G, Palmieri VO, Wang DQ.Management of gallstones and its related complications.Expert Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2016;10:93-112. doi:10.1586/17474124.2016.1109445American Cancer Society.Gallbladder cancer stages.Ayabe RI, Wach MM, Ruff SM, et al.Gallbladder squamous cell carcinoma: An analysis of 1084 cases from the National Cancer Database.J Surg Oncol. 2020 Jun 8. doi:10.1002/jso.26066.Murimwa G, Hester C, Mansour JC, et al.Comparative outcomes of adenosquamous carcinoma of the gallbladder: An analysis of the national cancer database.J Gastrointest Surg. 2020 Jul 23. doi:10.1007/s11605-020-04729-w.American Cancer Society.Survival rates for gallbladder cancer.
Akce M, Zakka K, Penley M, et al.Clinicopathological features and survival outcomes of rare histologic variants of gallbladder cancer.J Surg Oncol. 2019 Nov 28. doi:10.1002/jso.25781.
American Cancer Society.Risk factors for gallbladder cancer.
Portincasa P, Di Ciaula A, de Bari O, Garruti G, Palmieri VO, Wang DQ.Management of gallstones and its related complications.Expert Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2016;10:93-112. doi:10.1586/17474124.2016.1109445
American Cancer Society.Gallbladder cancer stages.
Ayabe RI, Wach MM, Ruff SM, et al.Gallbladder squamous cell carcinoma: An analysis of 1084 cases from the National Cancer Database.J Surg Oncol. 2020 Jun 8. doi:10.1002/jso.26066.
Murimwa G, Hester C, Mansour JC, et al.Comparative outcomes of adenosquamous carcinoma of the gallbladder: An analysis of the national cancer database.J Gastrointest Surg. 2020 Jul 23. doi:10.1007/s11605-020-04729-w.
American Cancer Society.Survival rates for gallbladder cancer.
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