If you have gallbladder cancer, your doctor may recommend surgery as part of your treatment plan. Surgery alone can effectively treat some gallbladder cancers or improve your symptoms and quality of life.
Penn Medicine's nationally recognized gastrointestinal (GI) surgeons successfully treat a high volume of rare gallbladder cancers. Our experience and coordinated care approach help us deliver improved outcomes, even for the most complex cases.
Gallbladder Cancer Surgery: Why Choose Penn Medicine?
Surgery to remove gallbladder cancer can be highly technical. That's why choosing an experienced team of specialists can make a big difference in your care. At Penn, our surgeons regularly perform intricate surgeries to treat gallbladder and other gastrointestinal (GI) cancers — with excellent results.
Our gallbladder cancer program features:
- Exceptional surgical expertise: Our hepatobiliary surgeons specialize in performing sophisticated surgeries to remove cancers that affect the gallbladder and nearby organs, such as the liver and bile ducts. Their experience in these types of procedures is unmatched at most centers in the U.S. Meet our GI surgery team.
- Advanced techniques: Our surgeons use leading surgical techniques to perform gallbladder cancer surgeries. Laparoscopic (minimally invasive) tools enable our team to precisely diagnose cancer spread and better plan your treatment.
- Comprehensive cancer care: Gallbladder cancer treatment may also include other therapies, such as chemotherapy or radiation therapy. Doctors who specialize in treating gallbladder and similar GI cancers (surgeons, medical oncologists and radiation oncologists) meet to review complex cases. We tailor a treatment plan to fit your needs and life.
- Specialized treatment options: At Penn, you have access to promising therapies that aren't widely available. Proton therapy, hepatic artery infusion pumps (a surgical chemotherapy) and wide-ranging clinical trials offer you more options.
- Support from start to finish: Your care team will support you at every step of the treatment process. We explain your options, help you prepare for surgery and guide you through recovery. Our easy-to-use patient portal, available through MyChart by myPennMedicine, makes it easier to communicate with your care team, before and after surgery. Learn more about what to expect in our patient guide to GI surgery.
- Choices and convenience: At Penn, we make it easier to access certain therapies at an Abramson Cancer Center location closer to you, should you choose.
Our Approach to Gallbladder Cancer Surgery and Treatment
Early-stage gallbladder cancer doesn't always cause obvious symptoms, which may delay diagnosis. In later stages, gallbladder cancer is more likely to affect nearby organs, such as the pancreas, liver or bile ducts.
At Penn, we personalize cancer treatment based on many factors, such as a cancer's DNA and if or where it has spread. Your treatment plan may include any combination of surgery, chemotherapy (cancer drugs) and radiation therapy.
Read more about gallbladder cancer treatment.
Types of Gallbladder Cancer Surgeries
Surgery to remove cancerous tissue is considered the only curative therapy for gallbladder cancer. For early-stage gallbladder cancer (that only affects the gallbladder), surgery may be the only treatment you need. During the procedure, surgeons may also remove nearby lymph nodes to check for possible cancer.
Since gallbladder cancer commonly spreads to nearby organs, surgery to treat gallbladder cancer may also remove part or all of nearby tissues, including the bile ducts, liver, pancreas and small intestine. Read more about:
Our surgeons are among the most experienced in the nation at performing technical operations that involve the gallbladder, liver and pancreas, even for difficult-to-treat tumors other centers may consider unresectable (inoperable). We deliver better-than-average outcomes with low rates of complications.
At Penn, your surgeon may perform gallbladder removal surgery using a special type of X-ray called a cholangiogram. This technology gives our surgeons a detailed, real-time view (similar to a movie) of tiny structures, such as bile ducts, during surgery. Viewing these fine details enables surgeons to make precise movements that increase your chances of a better result.
Palliative Gallbladder Cancer Surgeries
Sometimes, doctors perform surgery to relieve gallbladder cancer symptoms, such as pain, often caused by a blocked bile duct. Doctors call these procedures palliative surgeries. While palliative surgery doesn't cure cancer, it may help you feel better and improve your quality of life.
Our palliative surgery options include:
- Surgical biliary bypass: Surgeons connect multiple tissues to allow bile to flow around an area blocked by a tumor.
- Bile duct stent placement: Surgeons repair a blocked bile duct by inserting a stent (tube) into the affected duct so that it stays open.
- Percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage: Surgeons insert a tube into a blocked bile duct to drain backed-up bile fluid, relieving pressure.
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