Symptoms before death from late stage bile duct cancer

Cholangiocarcinoma is one of the common malignant tumor diseases in daily life. Its appearance seriously threatens people's physical and mental health. Once the disease develops to the late stage, the patient not only has to endure inhuman pain and torture, but also has life concerns at any time. Therefore, many patients want to know what to do when the disease develops to the late stage. What are the symptoms of death in the late stage of cholangiocarcinoma? Can cholangiocarcinoma in the late stage be cured?

1. Symptoms of late-stage bile duct cancer before death include:

1. Jaundice: The early symptoms of bile duct cancer are not obvious, and most patients seek medical treatment because of jaundice. Jaundice is the earliest and most important symptom of bile duct cancer. About 90%-98% of bile duct cancer patients will have varying degrees of skin and scleral yellowing. The characteristic of jaundice is that it is progressive and deepened, and it is mostly painless. In a few patients, jaundice is fluctuating. Jaundice appears earlier in upper bile duct cancer, while jaundice in middle and lower bile duct cancer may appear later due to the buffering of the gallbladder.

2. Abdominal pain: About half of the patients have symptoms such as right upper abdominal pain, distension or discomfort, weight loss, loss of appetite, etc. These symptoms are often regarded as early warning symptoms of bile duct cancer. At the beginning of abdominal pain, it is similar to cholelithiasis and cholecystitis. According to clinical observation, abdominal pain and jaundice may occur only 3 months after the onset of bile duct cancer.

3. Skin itching: It may occur before or after the onset of jaundice, and may be accompanied by other symptoms such as tachycardia, bleeding tendency, mental depression, fatigue, steatorrhea, abdominal distension, etc. Skin itching is caused by increased bilirubin content in the blood, which stimulates the peripheral nerves of the skin.

4. Other symptoms: such as nausea, vomiting, weight loss, dark yellow urine, like soy sauce or strong tea, light yellow or even clay-colored stools, etc. When the tumor ruptures in the late stage, bile duct bleeding may occur, with black stools and positive fecal occult blood test, and even anemia may occur; when there is liver metastasis, symptoms such as liver enlargement and cirrhosis may occur.

As for the current status of treatment of late-stage bile duct cancer, the tumor is widespread and has a high chance of spreading and metastasizing, making treatment relatively difficult. However, this does not mean that bile duct cancer is a death sentence. Clinically, there are many cases of long-term survival after treatment. Whether late-stage bile duct cancer can be cured depends mainly on whether appropriate treatment measures are taken in time. Late-stage bile duct cancer has a large tumor range and has mostly spread and metastasized, making radical resection almost impossible. Clinically, palliative local resection is still recommended for late-stage bile duct cancer that can tolerate surgical resection, and other postoperative treatments are used after surgery, such as radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and traditional Chinese medicine.

To sum up, the symptoms before death of late-stage bile duct cancer are not difficult to observe. The important thing is to receive regular treatment in a timely manner. Treatment should be carried out according to the principle of specific analysis of specific circumstances, and the most suitable treatment method for the patient should be used to improve the efficacy, improve the patient's quality of life, and prolong survival.