Symptoms of gallbladder cancer at different stages

Gallbladder cancer can be divided into three stages: early, middle and late stages. The clinical symptoms of each stage are different. Gallbladder cancer patients should understand the symptoms of each stage, so as to detect changes in the disease in time, receive early treatment and avoid worsening of the disease.

Early symptoms of gallbladder cancer

1. Most patients with gallbladder cancer have no obvious symptoms in the early stage, so it is difficult to detect. Its clinical manifestations are mainly pain in the upper middle abdomen or right upper abdomen. Some patients have intermittent or continuous pain, while others have dull pain or colic, and the pain progressively worsens. When patients have abdominal pain, it may involve the right shoulder, back, chest, etc., which is sometimes difficult to distinguish from cholelithiasis.

2. In addition to abdominal pain, patients with gallbladder cancer may also experience loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, etc. The patient gradually loses weight, sometimes showing symptoms of acute or chronic cholecystitis

Symptoms of gallbladder cancer in the middle stage

1. In the middle stage of gallbladder cancer, patients may experience symptoms such as pain in the middle or right upper abdomen, indigestion, decreased appetite, and jaundice.

2. The abdominal pain experienced by patients is similar to that of calculous cholecystitis, because most patients have gallstones. In the later stages, it becomes a persistent dull pain.

Symptoms of advanced gallbladder cancer

1. In the late stage of gallbladder cancer, as the degree of deterioration gradually increases, patients may develop complications such as gallbladder infection, abscess, perforation, liver abscess, pancreatitis, portal vein thrombosis, intestinal obstruction, gastrointestinal tract, and may also form fistulas with the nearby gastrointestinal tract.

2. In addition to complications, gallbladder cancer in the late stage is also prone to metastasis and spread, the most common metastasis is liver metastasis.