Gallbladder Cancer: Symptoms, Diagnosis, and Treatment

Gallbladder cancer is rare. The American Cancer Society estimates that 12,130 new cases (including cancer of nearby large bile ducts) will be diagnosed in the United States in 2022. (1)

In comparison, overall new cancer diagnoses are expected to hit 1,918,030 in the United States in 2022. (2)

Among those with gallbladder cancer, 4,400 are expected to die from the disease in 2022, compared with 609,360 deaths from all cancers. (1,2)

Gallbladder cancer usually isn’t discovered until it’s advanced and causes symptoms. Only about 1 in 5 cases is found in the early stages, before the cancer has spread beyond the gallbladder. (1)

There are a number of factors known to increase your risk of developing gallbladder cancer.

Gallstones Having these hardened deposits of cholesterol, pigments, and other substances in your gallbladder is the most common risk factor for gallbladder cancer.

At least 3 out of 4 people with gallbladder cancer have gallstones when their cancer is diagnosed, according to the American Cancer Society. (3) But only a very small percentage of people with gallstones will develop gallbladder cancer.

Gallbladder Polyps These are growths that form on the inner surface of the gallbladder wall. They may form because of cholesterol deposits, inflammation, or tumors, with larger polyps (over 1 centimeter) more likely to be cancerous.

Excess Weight or Obesity People with gallbladder cancer are more likely to be overweight or obese than those who don’t have this cancer. This may be because bearing excess weight contributes to gallstones.

Native American or Mexican Descent People with these ethnic backgrounds are more likely to have gallbladder cancer and gallstones than other groups in the United States. People of African descent have the lowest risk.

Older Age The average age at diagnosis for gallbladder cancer is 72, and 2 out of 3 people are 65 or older.

Female Gender Gallbladder cancer is more than twice as common in women as in men in the United States. (3)

Porcelain Gallbladder This is a condition in which the gallbladder wall is covered in hardened deposits of calcium, usually because of long-term inflammation of the organ.

Typhoid People with this bacterial infection — which is rare in the United States — are at higher risk for gallbladder cancer, probably because of gallbladder inflammation caused by the infection.

Choledochal Cysts These are abnormal sacs of bile that can form on the common bile duct, the tube that carries bile from the liver and gallbladder to the small intestine.

Bile Duct Abnormalities In some people, a duct from the pancreas joins the common bile duct in a way that lets pancreatic juices flow backward into the bile duct, while also keeping bile in the duct longer.

Family History While most people with gallbladder cancer don’t have a family history of the disease, your risk is higher if you do. (3)

Gallbladder cancer usually doesn’t cause any symptoms until later stages of the disease.

Because gallbladder cancer is so rare, even if you have the most common symptoms of gallbladder cancer, they’re more likely to be caused by some other condition.

Common symptoms of gallbladder cancer include:

• Abdominal pain, usually in the upper right part of the torso
• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Jaundice (yellowing of the skin and eyes)
• Lumps in the abdomen, especially on the right side

Less common symptoms of gallbladder cancer include:

• Loss of appetite
• Weight loss
• Swollen abdomen
• Fever
• Itchy skin
• Dark-colored urine
• Light or clay-colored stools (4)

The earlier your gallbladder cancer can be diagnosed, the better the prognosis, or outlook, may be.

Some gallbladder cancers are incidentally found when a person’s gallbladder is removed for other reasons, since it’s routine to test removed inflamed gallbladders for cancer cells.

But most cases of gallbladder cancer aren’t discovered until someone is experiencing symptoms.

A number of methods are used to diagnose gallbladder cancer:

Medical History Your doctor will consider your history of symptoms when ordering tests and making a diagnosis.

Physical Exam Your doctor will look for lumps, tenderness, and fluid buildup in your abdomen, as well as feel your lymph nodes and look for signs of jaundice (yellowing of the skin and eyes).

Blood Tests Your doctor may order tests that measure your liver and gallbladder function, along with tests for tumor markers — proteins in your blood that are often present if you have gallbladder cancer. These tumor markers generally aren’t specific to gallbladder cancer, so a doctor would only be able to make a diagnosis after taking a patient’s overall presentation into consideration along with blood tests.

Imaging Tests Your doctor may look at your gallbladder using a number of different tests, including ultrasound, computed tomography (CT) scans, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and scans that look at your gallbladder and surrounding areas after a contrast dye is injected into your blood.

Laparoscopy In this procedure, a flexible tube with a light and a small camera is inserted through an incision in the skin of the abdomen to look at the gallbladder. It may be done to help plan surgery or other treatments, or to determine how advanced your cancer is.

Biopsy Sometimes, a small tissue sample is removed from the gallbladder to test for cancerous cells. This is usually done using a very thin needle. (4)

You and your doctor will decide which treatment, or combination of treatments, is the best option to treat your gallbladder cancer.

There are three standard treatments for gallbladder cancer:

Surgery Surgical options may include removing the gallbladder (known as cholecystectomy), as well as removing nearby lymph nodes.

If your cancer is too advanced for removal of the gallbladder to be feasible, it may be possible to relieve symptoms by undergoing surgery to fix a bile duct blocked by a tumor, or to drain bile that has built up because of a blockage.

Radiation This treatment uses high-energy rays to kill or limit the growth of cancer cells. For gallbladder cancer, a machine outside the body is typically used for this treatment.

Chemotherapy Drugs to stop the growth of cancer cells may be taken by mouth, given as an intravenous (IV) infusion, or injected into the abdomen. (5)

Additional reporting by Quinn Phillips.