Gall Bladder Cancer as a “Silent Killer”
About Author: Rinki Verma (Research fellow)
Institute of Medical science (CEMS)
Banaras Hindu University
Varanasi - 221005
Abstract:
Gallbladder cancer is a comparatively rare cancer and has poor outcome due to their anatomy and location. It has peculiar geographical distribution being common in central and South America, central and eastern Europe, Japan and northern India; it is also common in certain ethnic groups e.g. Native American Indians and Hispanics (Kapoor VK, McMichael AJ ,2003. It is fifteen uncommon cancers in the world with high mortality rate. The diagnosis is made very late due to its silent course. The majority of patients have advanced disease at the time of presentation which carries a poor prognosis. The modes of spread of gall bladder carcinoma are direct, lymphatic, vascular, neural, intraperitoneal and intraductal. Ultra Sound, CT and MRI are helpful in diagnosis and staging of the disease. Surgery remains the mainstay of treatment and chemotherapy has a very limited role.

