Gallbladder cancer palliative treatment
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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]
Overview
Palliative treatment options
Palliative treatment options may include the following:
- The preferred approach to biliary obstruction is percutaneous transhepatic radiologic catheter bypass or endoscopically placed stents.[1]
- Standard external-beam radiation therapy can, on occasion, alleviate biliary obstruction in some patients and may supplement bypass procedures.
- Palliative surgery may relieve bile duct obstruction and is warranted when symptoms produced by biliary blockade (pruritus, hepatic dysfunction, and cholangitis) outweigh other symptoms from the cancer.
- Standard chemotherapy is usually not effective, though occasional patients may be palliated. Clinical trials should be considered as a first option for most patients. [2] [3]
References
- ↑ Baron TH: Expandable metal stents for the treatment of cancerous obstruction of the gastrointestinal tract. N Engl J Med 344 (22): 1681-7, 2001.
- ↑ Bartlett DL, Ramanathan RK, Deutsch M: Cancer of the biliary tree. In: DeVita VT Jr, Hellman S, Rosenberg SA, eds.: Cancer: Principles and Practice of Oncology. 7th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2005, pp 1009-31.
- ↑ Hejna M, Pruckmayer M, Raderer M: The role of chemotherapy and radiation in the management of biliary cancer: a review of the literature. Eur J Cancer 34 (7): 977-86, 1998.