Diagnosis of Gallbladder Cancer

Gallbladder cancer is the formation of tissues in the gallbladder. To start your treatment, it is important to know what is the stage and type of the cancer so that doctors would know if surgery alone will do or other treatment options are required.

Diagnosis of gallbladder cancer is done in following ways-

Physical exam and history: Examination of the body is done to check general signs of health, including checking for signs of disease, such as lumps or anything else that appears to be unusual. Generally, history of the patient’s health habits and past illnesses and treatments are taken into account.

Blood Test: A sample of blood is taken from the patient in order to check for level of bilirubin. Bilirubin is a chemical which makes the bile yellow. So, if the level is found high, it shows that something is wrong either with the gallbladder or the liver.

Ultrasound: Ultrasound is a method that uses high-frequency sound waves in order to produce precise pictures. The image of gallbladder will be created to check if something is wrong with the gallbladder. The device is attached to the tube & is inserted through mouth or through surgical incision.

Biopsy: In this procedure, the cells or tissues are removed so that they can be viewed under a microscope by a pathologist to check for signs of cancer. This is often done through the scope itself. Before the biopsy is taken, the area is made numb and then a small piece of the tissue is cut out and sent to a lab. If doctor finds that the tumor is very small & has not grown below the surface of the anus, he might attempt to remove the entire tumor during biopsy.

MRI: In MRI scan, magnets and radio waves are used to produce 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional pictures of the target area. The radio waves energy is absorbed by the body and then released in a specific pattern that is formed by the type of tissue and by certain diseases. After which, a computer translates the pattern into a detailed image of parts of the body.

CT (Computed Tomography) Scan: CT scan is generally done first in order to check whether the gallbladder cancer has spread to other areas of the body or not. CT scan produces detailed images of internal organs and the output is shown as three dimensional cross sectional image of the body.

Angiography: Angiography is basically done in order to plan about the surgery by examining blood vessels & blood flow around the gallbladder of the patient. It is done using the x-ray machine, CT scanner or MRI scanner.