Gallbladder cancer is a rare, rapidly progressing digestive system cancer with poor survival rate. It has a high incidence and death rate in India, Chile and Japan in the world. It is an insidious disease and is usually encountered incidentally in tissue samples from surgeries (cholecystectomy) in which the gallbladder is removed due to gallstones.

 

What are the Causes of Gallbladder Cancer?

 

The causes of gallbladder cancer are not fully known. Most gallbladder cancers start from the cells lining and secreting the gallbladder. It is hypothesized that these cells lose their similarity to each other due to chronic irritation due to long-standing gallstones and turn into invasive carcinoma. It is accepted that this change takes 5-10 years.

 

The incidence of gallbladder cancer in the community is highly similar to that of gallstones. Cancer can be seen in 0.5-3% of gallstones.

 

Like gallbladder polyps, the growth of the wall tissue into the gallbladder like a bunch of grapes also increases the risk of cancer. Especially in patients over 50 years of age, the possibility of cancerization on the basis of gallbladder polyps increases in cases where the gallbladder polyp is larger than 1 cm, is more than one in number, or grows in follow-up.

 

The incidence of cancer is 25% in cases of porcelain sac (the gallbladder wall is completely calcified), which is the most advanced form of chronic inflammation. Therefore, cholecystectomy is indicated for all porcelain sacs.
Apart from this, some parasites, which are not found in our country, can also form the ground.

 

In addition, methyldopa, oral contraceptives, taking isoniazid treatment and working in the tire industry are considered as predisposing factors.

 

How Is Gallbladder Cancer Treated?

 

The main treatment for gallbladder cancer is surgery. The extent of surgical treatment of gallbladder cancer is determined by the stage of the disease, the location of the tumor, and whether the surgery is primary or not.

 

In some cases, tissue removal from the lobes of the liver along with the gallbladder or resection of the bile ducts within the liver and removal of the surrounding lymphatic tissue may be required.