"Gallbladder cancer "

Symptoms are not clear and may be similar to other conditions.

Common symptoms:

Pain at the right upper side of the abdomen
Jaundice “Yellowing of the skin and whites of the eyes”
Nausea
Weight loss
Tangible mass
If you experienced symptoms of gallbladder cancer,

visit your gastroenterologist who may direct you to an oncologist.

There’s no specific cause of gallbladder cancer but several factors can increase the risk of developing the disease:

Age- 65 years and older
Female gender
Gall stones- around 85% of people with gallbladder cancer have gallbladder stones
Chronic inflammation- This may include conditions such as gallbladder cysts
Obesity
Family history of the disease
Infections
Exposure to chemicals

Different tests and procedures may be used to diagnose and stage gallbladder cancer such as:

Blood tests: A blood sample is taken and the amount of certain materials is measured to help in the diagnosis and to know how well the liver is functioning.

Imaging: Different techniques are used to take a picture of the gallbladder to help in the diagnosis or to know if cancer has spread to other organs (ex: Ultrasound, Computed tomography “CT”, Magnetic resonance imaging “MRI”, and Positron emission tomography “PET”).

Tumor markers: A test that uses blood or urine samples to measure the quantity of a specific substance that indicates the presence of a malignancy, but it’s not specific in this case.

Biopsy: It’s taking a sample of the tissue to be examined under the microscope to diagnose cancer, this may be done by an endoscope “a device with a camera used for diagnosis and taking samples”.



Staging

The staging of gallbladder cancer depends on the tumor size, involvement of lymph nodes, and spreading to other parts of the body. It has stages from zero to four. stage four is the most severe one and indicates that cancer has spread to different organs.

Choosing the appropriate treatment depends on the size of the tumor, location, spreading, and the patient's general health.



Treatment options are:



Surgery: It’s the only treatment option that treats gallbladder cancer, but cancer can return back after surgery. There are different types of surgeries according to the case, so only the gallbladder can be removed, or this may extend to removing part of the liver and lymph nodes. In some cases, surgery may be done just to relieve the symptoms caused by the tumor.



Chemotherapy: A type of medicine that kills cancer cells and is usually taken as a combination of two or more medicines. It may be used before surgery to decrease the size of the tumor, after surgery to kill any remaining cancer cells and stop the disease recurrence, or to relieve the symptoms in the advanced stages after cancer has already spread (ex: Gemcitabine, Cisplatin, Oxaliplatin, and Capecitabine).



Radiotherapy: It is using radiation to kill cancer cells. This procedure can be used in combination with chemotherapy in advanced stages when cancer has already spread to other organs.



Targeted therapy: These medications act on specific targets and molecules to prevent the growth of cancer cells (ex: Panitumumab, Bevacizumab, and Cetuximab).



Immunotherapy: Medications that help the immunity to fight cancer (ex: Pembrolizumab, Nivolumab).