Gallbladder Cancer

Gallbladder cancer (GBC) is the most common malignant tumor of the biliary tract representing 80-95% of biliary tract cancers worldwide. The disease has a striking variability in the incidence, being most common in some countries such as Chile, North India, and Japan, and less common in western countries such as the United States. Most cases are diagnosed at late stages due to vague symptoms, and only 10-30% of patients are candidates for curative resection. Given the rarity of the disease in many parts of the world, contemporary clinical data are limited to a few clinical trials. Moreover, patients with GBC are often combined with other biliary tract cancers in clinical trials. Nevertheless, the treatment of gallbladder cancer has evolved over the last decade with an increased emphasis on the use of therapies such as intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT), molecular targeted therapy, and combination chemotherapy. In addition, randomized controlled trials are evaluating the roles of chemotherapy and molecular-targeted therapy in the management of the disease. In this chapter, we detail the contemporary clinical management of gallbladder cancer with a special focus on the latest developments in the field.