Gallbladder stones, an “old problem” that cannot be ignored
Ms. Li, a 63-year-old woman with a beautiful family, just moved into a new house with her family to celebrate the housewarming, ate more shabu-shabu, and that night she had pain in her upper right abdomen like a knife twist, accompanied by a high fever. She thought her “old problem” of gallbladder stones had returned and she could get over it with some anti-inflammatory drugs, but after three days, not only was the pain not relieved, but her fever wouldn’t go away. In an emergency, Ms. Li came to Xuanwu Hospital of Capital Medical University. After examination, CT showed that Ms. Li’s gallbladder was enlarged and the stones in the gallbladder were 4cm in size, with obvious oozing around the gallbladder and thickened gallbladder wall. Carcinoembryonic antigen was also significantly increased, which was highly suspected of gallbladder cancer. The subsequent intraoperative pathology confirmed the diagnosis of gallbladder cancer and radical gallbladder cancer surgery was performed. Liu Dongbin, Department of General Surgery, Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University
Liu Dongbin, deputy chief physician of the Department of General Surgery, Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, suggested that gallbladder cancer is the most common malignant tumor in the biliary system, accounting for the fifth place of malignant tumors in the digestive system. Gallbladder cancer has no specific clinical manifestation in the early stage, and most patients are already in the progressive stage when they are found out, and are often found to be gallbladder cancer only during or after cholecystectomy. In recent years, there is an increasing trend of gallbladder cancer patients, and its development is most closely related to gallbladder stones, gallbladder adenoma and gallbladder adenomyosis, among which gallstones are the most common, and 80% of gallbladder cancer patients have gallbladder stones together. Therefore, patients with a history of gallbladder stones for more than 10 years, especially those with stones of 2-3 cm in diameter and frequent attacks, should not be ignored because they are “old”. Patients with gallbladder stones are advised to have regular ultrasound examinations to detect gallbladder lesions at an early stage. With timely treatment, the incidence of gallbladder cancer can be greatly reduced.