Symptoms of Gallbladder Cancer in Different Stages Gallbladder cancer can be divided into three stages: early stage, middle stage and late stage, each of which has different clinical symptoms. Patients with gallbladder cancer should understand the symptoms of each period to detect the changes of the disease in time, so as to provide early treatment and avoid the deterioration of the disease. Early symptoms of gallbladder cancer 1. Most patients with gallbladder cancer do not have obvious symptoms in early stage, so it is difficult to detect. Some patients have intermittent or continuous pain, while others have dull pain or colic, and the pain is progressively aggravated. The abdominal pain may involve the right shoulder, back and chest, which is sometimes difficult to distinguish from gallstone disease. In addition to abdominal pain, patients with gallbladder cancer may also suffer from loss of appetite, nausea and vomiting in early stage, and gradually lose weight, sometimes manifesting as acute or chronic cholecystitis. Symptoms of gallbladder cancer in the middle stage 1. Patients with gallbladder cancer in the middle stage can show symptoms such as pain in the middle and upper abdomen or right upper abdomen, indigestion, decreased appetite and jaundice. 2. The clinical abdominal pain is more similar to that of stone cholecystitis because most patients are accompanied by gallbladder stones. In the later stage, it becomes persistent dull pain. Symptoms and manifestations of gallbladder cancer in late stage 1. In late stage of gallbladder cancer, patients may have gallbladder infection, pus accumulation, perforation, liver abscess, pancreatitis, portal vein thrombosis, intestinal obstruction, gastrointestinal tract and other complications, and may also form fistula with nearby gastrointestinal tract because of the gradual increase of deterioration. 2. In addition to complications, gallbladder cancer is also prone to metastasis and spread in late stage, and the most common metastasis and spread is liver metastasis. 3 common treatments for gallbladder cancer Gallbladder cancer is characterized by high malignancy, prone to metastasis in early stage, difficult to be detected early and insensitive to chemotherapy drugs. In clinical practice, the treatment methods of gallbladder cancer can include surgery, drug therapy and radiation therapy. Surgical treatment Surgical resection is the first choice for early-stage gallbladder cancer treatment. As long as the patient’s physical condition permits, surgical removal of the diseased gallbladder should be pursued as much as possible, and whether to perform extended removal surgery should be decided according to pathological results. It is generally believed that extended clearance surgery should be performed when the cancer involves the muscular layer of the gallbladder, including removal of liver tissues near the gallbladder bed and soft tissues of the hepatoduodenal ligament as well as clearance of lymph nodes draining the gallbladder area, and extrahepatic bile duct resection can be considered when extrahepatic bile duct involvement is suspected. The treatment of patients with advanced gallbladder cancer requires a specific analysis of the patient’s condition. It is generally believed that the long-term survival rate of patients with lymph node metastasis will not be significantly improved if they undergo extended resection. Drug therapy Currently known chemotherapeutic drugs are not ideal for the treatment of gallbladder cancer, but drugs for digestive tract tumors can be used as a reference. Clinically, immune-enhancing drugs are generally used as important adjuvant drugs for gallbladder cancer. Radiation therapy For local residual or recurrent lesions, radiation therapy can control their growth rate and relatively prolong the survival time of patients. In addition, traditional Chinese medicine and maintaining a good state of mind are helpful to the treatment of gallbladder cancer and help improve the survival quality of patients.