How to check if you have bile duct cancer

How to check whether you have bile duct cancer? Many people will have such questions. Some people are worried that they have bile duct cancer, but they don’t know how to judge and check. Today, I will solve this doubt for you and introduce the judgment and examination methods of bile duct cancer for your reference.

Judging by symptoms:

① Jaundice: It is the most common symptom, accounting for about 36.5%. Jaundice is the result of bile duct obstruction, which is often progressive and deepens. The degree of jaundice is related to the location and degree of obstruction. Jaundice is deeper when the extrahepatic bile duct is obstructed, and lighter when the intrahepatic bile duct branches are blocked. Jaundice is deeper when the bile duct is completely obstructed, and lighter when the bile duct is incompletely obstructed. Occasionally, inflammation, spasm of the bile duct, tumor shedding, and papillary tumor displacement can cause jaundice to fluctuate. Middle and lower bile duct cancer often presents as painless cholestatic jaundice. The patient's urine is dark yellow or tea-colored, and the stool becomes lighter or clay-colored.

② Abdominal pain: It may be mild discomfort in the upper abdomen after eating, or dull pain under the xiphoid process, or back pain, or right upper abdominal colic, which is a manifestation of nerve invasion. It may appear before or after jaundice.

③ Fever: It is mostly caused by inflammation in the obstructive bile duct and the incidence is relatively low.

④Others: There may be associated symptoms such as loss of appetite, aversion to oil, fatigue, weight loss, itching of the skin, nausea and vomiting, or non-specific symptoms of cancer. A few may have symptoms of portal hypertension, which is caused by cancer infiltration of the portal vein.

You can also get a checkup at the hospital:

1. Laboratory examination: The main manifestations are abnormal liver function of obstructive jaundice, such as increased bilirubin and alkaline phosphatase.

2. Ultrasound examination: Repeated and careful ultrasound examinations can show dilated bile ducts, sites of obstruction, and even tumors.

3. ERCP: The duodenal papilla can be directly observed, and the angiography can show the obstructed distal bile duct.

4. Angiography: Angiography can better determine whether bile duct cancer can be removed.

5. Cytological examination: On the basis of PTCD, the sinus tract is enlarged and a fiber choledochoscope is inserted to directly observe and clamp the mass for biopsy. When performing PTC or PTCD, bile can be extracted for cytological examination.