Experts weigh in on India being high-incidence region for gallbladder cancer globally

Abnormal growth of cells begins in the gallbladder, which is a small, pear-shaped organ on the right side of the abdomen, just beneath your liver, is defined as gallbladder cancer. Experts have noted that the size gallbladder and its location make it easier for cancer to grow undetected.

In a report published in a medical journal in August 2019, it was found that cases of gallbladder cancer (GBC) have been increasing significantly.

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The report titled-"Epidemiology of gallbladder cancer in India"-it is mentioned that India is a high-incidence area for GBC and contributes to about 10 per cent of the global GBC burden.

It was also mentioned that within India, the incidence is high in the North, North-East, Central and Eastern parts of the nation and less common in South and West India.

WION spoke with experts to know more about GBC.Dr Shubham Jain, the HoD and consultant at surgical oncology, HCMCT in Manipal Hospitals,Dwarka in New Delhi, said: "India is in fact a high-incidence area for GBC seen worldwide, the South Asian region contributes roughly 70 per cent of the patients suffering from this type of cancer. The Indo-Gangetic belt, which is predominantly northern India is the area with the highest density of patients suffering from GBC."

Dr Jain added, "Conventionally, gallstones are seen as a risk factor for developing cancer, however, there are no defined preventive strategies towards fighting gall balder cancers."

He noted that it is not recommended that anybody diagnosed with gall stones disease should get the gall removal done just because of the fear of developing gallbladder cancer in the future.

Dr Jain said that GBC is known to be aggressive cancer so if detected timely, surgery is the best to trfeat it.

Dr Sumit Bhatia, who is a senior consultant gastroenterologist at Paras Hospital in Gurgaon, said: "Gallbladder cancer is a lethal and a very aggressive malignancy worldwide this cancer is supposed to be rare but they are marked ethnic in geographical variations. Now in India itself, they are marked regional differences in the incidence and prevalence of gallbladder cancer."

Talking about risk factors, Dr Bhatia said that for GBC, there are several risk factors. He reiterated that it's more common in certain specific geographic areas like Northern India.

Dr Bhatia said that it's more common in females as compared to males but the most important risk factor is the presence of gallstones.

Dr Bhatia said, "Gallstones are seen in almost 80% to 90% of gallbladder cancer cases. In addition to gallstones, the other risk factors are old age, and obesity and it's very common in smokers."

"It's common in females taking medication like contraceptive pills. It's again common in patients with a strong family history of gall bladder cancer earlier and in certain infections like Salmonella-typhi carriers," he added.

Dr Bhatia explained, "The symptoms for gall bladder cancers are very vague and non-specific and hence most patients are diagnosed once the disease is at an advanced stage."

While talking about early signs and symptoms, Dr Bhatia said that the common presenting symptoms for gallbladder cancer are the right upper abdominal pain or discomfort."

He said that patients can also present with non-specific vague symptoms like loss of appetite loss of weight and jaundice. Jaundice generally is a feature of advanced disease if the person has any of the above symptoms or has gallstones with other important risk factors.

Dr Bhatia recommended that patients need to take medical opinion regarding early gallbladder surgery and if diagnosed early and well in time, which unfortunately happens only in 5% to 10% of cases, surgery is a treatment of choice.

Dr Bhatia said that gall bladder cancer otherwise carries a very poor prognosis with advanced disease.

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