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Tests and diagnosis
By Mayo Clinic staff
Diagnosing gallbladder cancer
Tests and procedures used to diagnose gallbladder cancer include:
- Blood tests. Blood tests to evaluate your liver function may help your doctor determine what's causing your signs and symptoms.
- Procedures to create images of the gallbladder. Imaging tests that can create pictures of the gallbladder include ultrasound, computerized tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
Determining the extent of gallbladder cancer
Once your doctor diagnoses your gallbladder cancer, he or she works to find the extent (stage) of your cancer. Your gallbladder cancer's stage helps determine your prognosis and your treatment options. Tests and procedures used to stage gallbladder cancer include:
- Exploratory surgery. Your doctor may recommend surgery to look inside your abdomen for signs that gallbladder cancer has spread. In a procedure called laparoscopy, the surgeon makes a small incision in your abdomen and inserts a tiny camera. The camera allows the surgeon to examine organs surrounding your gallbladder for signs that the cancer has spread.
- Tests to examine the bile ducts. Your doctor may recommend procedures to inject dye into the bile ducts. This is followed by an imaging test that records where the dye goes. These tests can show blockages in the bile ducts. These tests may include endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography, magnetic resonance cholangiography and percutaneous transhepatic cholangiography.
Stages of gallbladder cancer
The stages of gallbladder cancer are:
- Stage I. At this stage, gallbladder cancer is confined to the inner layers of the gallbladder.
- Stage II. This stage of gallbladder cancer has grown to invade the outer layer of the gallbladder and may protrude into nearby organs, such as the liver, stomach, intestines or pancreas. This stage of cancer may also include less extensive tumors that have spread to nearby lymph nodes.
- Stage III. At this stage, gallbladder cancer has grown to invade more than one of the nearby organs, or it may invade the portal vein or hepatic artery.
- Stage IV. The latest stage of gallbladder cancer includes tumors of any size that have spread to distant areas of the body.
- 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.
