Clinical manifestations of gallbladder cancer

The clinical manifestations of gallbladder cancer are as follows:

1. Symptoms Gallbladder cancer is difficult to detect in its early stages due to the lack of specific symptoms. When obvious clinical symptoms appear, it is usually in the late stage and has metastasized, making radical resection impossible, and the prognosis is extremely poor. Gallbladder cancer may present with some symptoms similar to benign biliary diseases (acute or chronic cholecystitis, cholelithiasis, etc.), such as upper abdominal pain, distension, discomfort, nausea, vomiting, fatigue, and poor appetite.

(1) Pain and discomfort in the right upper abdomen: It is the most common symptom of gallbladder cancer (60%-87%). 40% of gallbladder cancer patients may experience worsening abdominal pain symptoms, increased frequency of attacks, or longer duration.

(2) Nausea and vomiting: accounting for 30%-40% and are related to acute and chronic cholecystitis. In a few cases, pyloric obstruction is caused by tumors invading the duodenum.

(3) Jaundice: About 30% of patients may develop obstructive jaundice due to direct tumor invasion or compression of the extrahepatic bile duct by hilar lymph node metastasis or dissemination within the bile duct.

(4) Others: A small number of patients develop low-grade fever due to concurrent infection or tumor fever. Once upper abdominal mass, jaundice, ascites, obvious weight loss, anemia and compression symptoms of adjacent organs appear, it indicates that the disease is already in the late stage.

2. Signs There are no specific signs in early gallbladder cancer. When combined with acute cholecystitis, there may be tenderness in the right upper abdomen; when the common bile duct is invaded or compressed, obstructive jaundice may occur; when the cystic duct is blocked and the gallbladder is enlarged, or the tumor involves the liver or adjacent organs, an abdominal mass may be palpated; in the late stage, there may also be hepatomegaly, ascites, and lower limb edema.