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is: 1121512

Gall Bladder Cancer

What Is It?

Cancer of the gallbladder is quite a rare disease in the UK. You may hear it called biliary cancer. It is possible to have a cancer anywhere within the biliary tree – the biliary tree means the gallbladder itself or the bile ducts.

Like all other parts of the body, the area containing the gallbladder also contains lymph nodes/glands. They help to control infection by filtering the lymphatic fluid. They remove anything foreign to the body, including bacteria and viruses. The lymph nodes are often the first place that cancer cells reach when they break away from a tumour. So surgeons usually remove them during cancer surgery and send them to the lab where a specialist called a pathologist examines them closely for cancer cells.

Symptoms

Common symptoms are:

Abdominal pain
Feeling or being sick
Jaundice
Loss of appetite (anorexia)
Loss of weight without dieting
Swollen abdomen

Treatment

Treatment will depend on a number of factors as well as where the cancer is exactly or if it has spread.

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