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Causes
By Mayo Clinic staff
It's not clear what causes gallbladder cancer. Doctors know that gallbladder cancer forms when healthy gallbladder cells develop changes (mutations) in their DNA. These mutations cause cells to grow out of control and to continue living when other cells would normally die. The accumulating cells form a tumor that can grow beyond the gallbladder and spread to other areas of the body.
Most gallbladder cancer begins in the cells that line the inner surface of the gallbladder. Gallbladder cancer that begins in this type of cell is most commonly called adenocarcinoma. This term refers to the way the cancer cells appear when examined under a microscope.
- General information about gallbladder cancer. National Cancer Institute. http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/treatment/gallbladder/patient. Accessed May 28, 2009.
- Abeloff MD, et al. Abeloff's Clinical Oncology. 4th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Churchill Livingstone; 2008:1580.
- Lillemoe KD. Tumors of the gallbladder, bile ducts and ampulla. In: Feldman M, et al. Sleisenger & Fordtran's Gastrointestinal and Liver Disease: Pathophysiology, Diagnosis, Management. 8th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders Elsevier; 2006. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/140200591-2/0/1389/0.html. Accessed May 28, 2009.
- Questions to ask the doctor. Cancer.Net. http://www.cancer.net/patient/Cancer+Types/Gallbladder+Cancer. Accessed June 2, 2009.
- Hepatobiliary cancer. Fort Washington, Pa.: National Comprehensive Cancer Network. http://www.nccn.org/professionals/physician_gls/PDF/hepatobiliary.pdf. Accessed May 28, 2009.
