Gallbladder cancer

Mareike Müller is a freelance writer in the medical department and assistant doctor for neurosurgery in Düsseldorf. She studied human medicine in Magdeburg and gained a lot of practical medical experience during her stays abroad on four different continents.

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Gallbladder cancer (gallbladder cancer) is a malignant growth in the gallbladder. Gallbladder cancer is rare and only when the disease is advanced do patients experience symptoms or develop jaundice. One tries to treat the cancer by removing the gallbladder and chemotherapy. Here you can read everything you need to know about gallbladder cancer.

ICD codes for this disease: ICD codes are internationally recognized codes for medical diagnoses. They can be found, for example, in doctor's letters or on certificates of incapacity for work. C23

Gallbladder cancer: incidence

Gallbladder cancer is rare. Every year about three in 100,000 people fall ill. Most of them are over 70 years old. Overall, around four times more women are affected than men. This may be because women are more likely to have gallstones. These are among the risk factors for developing gallbladder cancer.

The stones themselves are not the cause of gallbladder cancer. Rather, they cause persistent inflammation of the gallbladder. This constant irritation can then result in a gallbladder tumor. Therefore, gallstones are found in around 80 percent of all gallbladder cancer patients.The reverse conclusion that gallbladder carcinoma is also found in gallbladder stones is not correct!

Other risk factors for developing gallbladder cancer are gallbladder polyps that are over an inch tall. They can degenerate. In addition, permanent excretors of salmonella after a salmonella disease are at risk of developing a gallbladder tumor.

Gallbladder cancer: symptoms and diagnosis

As with tumors in the biliary tract, gallbladder cancer rarely has early symptoms. Only when the tumor has grown significantly does it cause problems. Patients then experience pain in the upper abdomen, weight loss, or jaundice (jaundice). Itching and fatigue can also occur. Also, if the gallbladder cancer is advanced, the doctor can often feel an enlarged gallbladder under the last right rib.

If your doctor suspects you may have gallbladder cancer, he will ask you about your medical history. The question of gallbladder stones in the past is particularly important. He then examines you physically, including palpating your stomach and possibly feeling an enlarged gallbladder.

He will then take your blood, which will be examined for changes in the liver and bile values. In addition, imaging procedures such as an ultrasound examination of the abdomen or X-ray examinations with contrast media are carried out to show the gall bladder and biliary tract.

With the help of this examination, your doctor will be able to differentiate possible gallbladder cancer from other diseases such as stone disease or gallbladder inflammation. A gallbladder tumor is often discovered by chance during an operation, for example when the gallbladder is removed due to gallbladder stones.

Gallbladder cancer: therapy and prognosis

If gallbladder cancer is detected early, it may be sufficient to remove only the gallbladder surgically. In these rare cases, complete removal of the tumor can result in cure. In all other cases the prognosis is poor.

Often times, gallbladder cancer is so advanced by the time it is diagnosed that both the gallbladder and parts of the biliary tract and liver must be removed. Radiotherapy or chemotherapy is then often carried out before the operation to shrink the tumor so that it can be removed.

In many cases this operation is no longer possible and palliative therapy is carried out. "Palliative" means that the patient can no longer be cured, but attempts are made to delay the course of the disease and alleviate the symptoms. In gallbladder cancer, for example, stents can be inserted into the biliary tract. These small tubes ensure that the bile can still drain away.

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