Gallbladder Cancer: Drug Therapy

Therapeutic targets

  • Pain relief
  • Palliative (palliative treatment)

Therapy recommendations

  • If tumor growth is limited to the gallbladder or bile ducts and adjacent liver tissue, surgery may be possible (see “Surgical Therapy” below).
  • In advanced stages, palliative chemotherapy is the therapy of choice: combination therapy from the chemotherapeutic agents gemcitabine and cisplatin.
  • In individual cases, radiotherapy (radiatio) may also be performed if the tumor is localized.
  • In advanced stages, palliative therapy (palliative treatment) is performed:
    • Enteral nutrition, e.g., feeding via a PEG (percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy: endoscopically created artificial access from the outside through the abdominal wall into the stomach).
    • Infusion therapy via a port catheter (port; permanent access to venous or arterial blood circulation).
    • Supplementation (“complementary therapy“) of micronutrients.
    • Pain therapy (according to WHO stage scheme; see below “Chronic pain“).
  • See also under “Further therapy”.