Synonyms in a broader sense
Gall bladder tumor, gall bladder carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, adenocarcinoma, porcelain gall bladder
Definition
Although gallbladder carcinoma (gallbladder cancer) is a rare but very malignant tumor with a poor prognosis, since the symptoms, such as painless jaundice (icterus), often appear late. There are two different types of tumors. The squamous cell carcinoma, which is particularly malignant and the adenocarcinoma, which is more common. The disease mainly occurs after the age of 60 and affects women twice as often as men. Long-term gallstone disease and chronic inflammation of the gall bladder are considered risk factors for the development of gall bladder cancer.
Frequency
Cancer of the gall bladder is very rare and affects only about 1 in 100000 inhabitants. Gall bladder cancer, however, is about 3 to 5 times more common than bile duct cancer. The patients are mostly older than 60 years and women are affected twice as often.
Tumor Types
Two types of cancer can develop in the gallbladder wall. The first is the less frequently occurring squamous cell carcinoma, which develops from the surface cells (epithelial cells) of the gallbladder mucosa and is characterized by particular malignancy. The more common adenocarcinoma, which develops from glandular cells of the gallbladder mucosa, is slightly less malignant than squamous cell carcinoma.
One of the risk factors for the development of gallbladder carcinoma is the long-term inflammation of the gallbladder (chronic cholecystitis). Gallstone disease (cholecystolithiasis) also appears to play a role. This is because 80% of those affected by this cancer have gallstones in the gallbladder at the same time, but by far not every patient (only about 1%) with a gallstone develops gallbladder carcinoma.
About 3-5% of patients become so-called permanent excretors after a salmonella infection. This means that the bacteria could not be killed completely and the patient always excretes Salmonella in his stool. At the same time, these patients have a colonization of the gallbladder with Salmonella, which is also a risk factor for carcinoma of the gallbladder.
If there is a long-term chronic inflammation of the gallbladder, calcification of the inner wall of the gallbladder can occur. This condition is also known as porcelain gallbladder, which is a precancerous stage (precancerosis) for gallbladder cancer (gallbladder carcinoma). Benign tumors of the gallbladder (gallbladder adenomas) should be removed from a size of 10 mm and above, because they have a certain potential for malignant degeneration. Adenomas smaller than 10 mm should be sonographically checked every six months. In addition, gallbladder polyps are occasionally found in the gallbladder, but they have only a low potential for degeneration.
