Gastrointestinal (GI) Oncology

Patient and Family Education

Gallbladder Cancer

Symptoms and Diagnosis

Cancer of the gallbladder is difficult to diagnose and usually is not found until after it has spread. There may be no symptoms in the early stages and when symptoms do appear they often resemble those of other gallbladder diseases, such as infection and gallstones.

The gallbladder is hidden behind other organs in the abdomen, so it is also difficult for doctors to feel or see tumors. Sometimes gallbladder cancer is found during a patient's surgery for gallstones or for other reasons.

Gallbladder cancer often produces no symptoms until the late stages of the disease. A person should see a doctor if he or she experiences:

pain above the stomach
loss of weight without trying
fever
yellowing of the skin

The doctor may use a variety of imaging tests to look for cancer and/or may perform a laproscopy to view the gallbladder and remove a tissue sample for examination. The doctor may or may not perform a biopsy, depending on the need to confirm the results of the imaging tests.

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

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