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Gastrointestinal (GI) Oncology

Patient and Family Education

Gallbladder Cancer

Stages

If a patient has gallbladder cancer, his or her doctor will do more tests to find out whether cancer cells have spread to other parts of the body. This process, called staging, helps the doctor to plan the patient's treatment.

For treatment purposes, gallbladder cancer is usually considered to be at one of three stages:

1. localized
2. unresectable
3. recurrent

Localized: Cancer is found only in the tissues that make up the wall of the gallbladder, and the cancer can be removed completely in an operation. Treatment may be one of the following:

• Surgery to remove the gallbladder and some of the tissues around it (cholecystectomy)
• External-beam radiation therapy with or without chemotherapy, possibly followed by surgery
• A clinical trial evaluating radiation therapy plus chemotherapy or drugs to make the cancer cells more sensitive to radiation (radiosensitizers)

Unresectable: All of the cancer cannot be removed in an operation. Cancer has spread to the tissues around the gallbladder, such as the liver, stomach, pancreas, or intestine and/or to lymph nodes in the area. (Lymph nodes are small, bean-shaped structures found throughout the body that produce and store infection-fighting cells). Treatment may be one of the following:

• Surgery or other procedures to relieve symptoms.
• Surgery to bypass the obstructed ducts of the gallbladder.
• External-beam radiation therapy with or without chemotherapy, possibly followed by surgery.
• Chemotherapy to relieve symptoms. Clinical trials are testing new chemotherapy drugs.
• A clinical trial evaluating radiation therapy plus chemotherapy or drugs to make the cancer cells more sensitive to radiation (radiosensitizers).

Recurrent: Recurrent cancer is cancer that has come back (recurred) after it has been treated. It may come back in the gallbladder or in another part of the body. Treatment for recurrent cancer of the gallbladder depends on the type of treatment the patient received before, the place where the cancer has recurred, and the patient's general health. The patient may wish to consider taking part in a clinical trial.

This page was last updated on: October 5, 2009.

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