Early signs of gallbladder cancer

Gallbladder cancer is a common malignant tumor of the digestive tract, accounting for 2/3 of biliary system tumors. The incidence is increasing year by year. It is more common in middle-aged and elderly people aged 40 to 60 years old, with women being 3 to 5 times more likely to be infected than men.

Modern medical research has confirmed that the occurrence of gallbladder cancer is related to cholelithiasis: the gallbladder is stimulated by stones in the gallbladder for a long time, causing repeated attacks of chronic cholecystitis. The inflammation causes atrophy of the gallbladder mucosal fibers, infiltration of lymphocytes and monocytes, and degeneration of tissue cells. The degenerated tissue is prone to cancer.

More importantly, the early symptoms of gallbladder cancer are easily ignored, and the misdiagnosis rate is as high as 60~80%. When clinically diagnosed, the cancer has usually developed to the middle and late stages, and the surgical prognosis is poor, with a 5-year survival rate of less than 5%.

Therefore, middle-aged and elderly people with calculous cholecystitis should be good at discovering the "clues" of gallbladder cancer at an early stage, such as the sudden onset of persistent dull pain in the right upper abdomen, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, low-grade fever, accompanied by progressive jaundice, and a hard, non-tender mass that can be felt in the right upper abdomen. This should arouse vigilance. Elderly patients should also be vigilant if they often have clinical manifestations similar to "acute cholecystitis" such as paroxysmal biliary colic. Especially for middle-aged and elderly women with calculous cholecystitis, if the disease is prolonged and recurrent, gallbladder cancer should be considered at this time. This is a "warning" put forward by hepatobiliary disease researchers at Kochi Medical University in Japan.

According to epidemiological surveys, more than 90% of gallbladder cancer patients have a history of cholelithiasis and chronic cholecystitis.