Auxiliary Examinations of Gall Bladder Cancer

1. Ultrasound examination. Ultrasound B is the first choice in gallbladder cancer examinations, with an accuracy of over 90%, it is easy and harmless, and can apply repeatedly.

2. CT scan. Its confirmed diagnostic rate of early gallbladder cancer is not as accurate as Ultrasound. However, to those patients who are highly suspected suffering gallbladder cancer in ultrasound examination, enhanced CT scan is necessary to perform for confirmation. If the tumor encroaches on liver or relative lymph nodes, it can be showed in CT scans.

3. Usually, not being the first or necessary examination in detecting gallbladder cancer, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Imaging(MRI) would only apply to confirm if liver or other organs are infected, or when a patient develops obstructive jaundice. Even its accuracy is similar to CT scan, but it got the advantage of non-radiographic inspection which means it can be performed for times.

4. PET-CT as an examination to relatively confirm the malignancy of tumor. With the exclusion of acute cholecystitis, this examination helps to confirm the malignancy of the space-occupying lesions in gallbladder and can detect if other lesions existing besides the ones in gallbladder.

5. Laboratory tests. When canceration occurs from the lesions of gallbladder, normally the indexes of tumor marker would increase. Testing serum tumor marker range is helpful to diagnose the malignancy of gallbladder cancer. But it won’t present increases tumor marker indexes in early stage of this cancer.

Disease Diagnosis of Gallbladder Cancer

Without any typical early symptoms, it is hard to diagnose gallbladder cancer. Most patients clinically would develop the symptoms similar to chronic cholecystitis or cholelithiasis. And the main symptom presents as pain in right upper abdomen, which could extends to right scapular region and is accompanied by poor appetite, lack of power, abdominal distension, low-grade fever, nausea, jaundice and so on. To the female patients with the history of cholelithiasis and chronic cholecystitis should considered to be gallbladder cancer patient when the pain varies to constant dull pain in right upper abdomen and aggravates progressively, or lump of gallbladder is touched locally, other obvious symptoms like progressive jaundice and emaciation occur obviously. The patients of late stages may develop the symptoms like swelling liver, space occupying lesion of liver, ascites, caahexy and so no, which are easily mistaken as liver cancer, pancreas cancer and bile duct cancer

Specialists from Modern Cancer Hospital Guangzhou reminded that, if space-occupying lesions or irregular thickening occur in gallbladder wall are detected through ultrasound examination, a patient shall further have chemical or other examinations to confirm whether it is gallbladder cancer.