Gallbladder: Insight on post (or pre) nephrectomy issues

sblairc
sblairc Member Posts: 585 Member
edited October 2016 in Kidney Cancer #1

So while my husband is "no evidence of malignancy" on his CT scans, his gall bladder wall is "thickening." He also has gallstones. Of course, we don't see the oncologist until December, but I was wondering for those of you who had your gall bladder scanned, know anything about this.

I looked it up, of course, and found a very good article.  Thickening of the gallbladder wall  has many causes most of them relatively uninteresting but gall bladder cancer was mentioned so of course I'm concerned. 

 

Anyone have any knowledge on "gallbladder wall thickening?"

Comments

  • jason.2835
    jason.2835 Member Posts: 337 Member
    edited October 2016 #2
    Gallbladder

    Gallbladder issues are what initially led to my incidental finding of the cancer.  My doctor wrote "abdominal" ultrasound rather than just the gallbladder.  Thank God she did because otherwise the hopsital probably wouldn't have scanned my left kidney.  

    Wall thickening of the gallbladder happens when someone has gallstones and the gallbladder is generally unwell.  It sounds like he will have to get it out.  It's pretty common in the US because of our wonderful diets.  The next steps in the process of degneration will eventually be hardening of the gallbladder and then it can actually become calcified (harden) and even gangrenous (mine was).  If he doesn't have pain yet, he probably will in the future.  The oncologist or your GP may send you to a surgeon who does gallbladder removals. 

    My removal was horrific and they had to go to an open procedure BUT that only happens in about 5% of cases.  Usually the procedure is done laparoscopic and it's pretty easy.

    - Jay

  • sblairc
    sblairc Member Posts: 585 Member
    #3
    jason.2835 said:

    Gallbladder

    Gallbladder issues are what initially led to my incidental finding of the cancer.  My doctor wrote "abdominal" ultrasound rather than just the gallbladder.  Thank God she did because otherwise the hopsital probably wouldn't have scanned my left kidney.  

    Wall thickening of the gallbladder happens when someone has gallstones and the gallbladder is generally unwell.  It sounds like he will have to get it out.  It's pretty common in the US because of our wonderful diets.  The next steps in the process of degneration will eventually be hardening of the gallbladder and then it can actually become calcified (harden) and even gangrenous (mine was).  If he doesn't have pain yet, he probably will in the future.  The oncologist or your GP may send you to a surgeon who does gallbladder removals. 

    My removal was horrific and they had to go to an open procedure BUT that only happens in about 5% of cases.  Usually the procedure is done laparoscopic and it's pretty easy.

    - Jay

    THANKS SO MUCH!!

    I knew you probably would have some insight. That helps. My mind, of course, went right to gallbladder cancer. Which is often diagnosed after routine gallbladder surgery, albeit it's a rare cancer. 

  • jason.2835
    jason.2835 Member Posts: 337 Member
    edited October 2016 #4
    sblairc said:

    THANKS SO MUCH!!

    I knew you probably would have some insight. That helps. My mind, of course, went right to gallbladder cancer. Which is often diagnosed after routine gallbladder surgery, albeit it's a rare cancer. 

    Rare

    Yes, it's generally extremely rare.  Much higher probability that he's just having normal, run of the mill gallbladder problems.

    - Jay

  • Kat23502
    Kat23502 Member Posts: 179 Member
    #5
    Had he eaten for 8 hours

    Had he eaten for 8 hours prior?

  • Vivaldi
    Vivaldi Member Posts: 27
    edited October 2016 #6
    Adenomyomatosis

    it is called adenomyomatosis....thickening of the mucosal layer of the gallbladder.  It can occur with or without stones. Sometimes it causes gallbladder symptoms, sometimes not. If it is symptomatic it can be removed, but it does not have to be. Mine was picked up incidentally after scanning for follow up of my partial nephrectomy. It can be caused by high cholesterol, by taking bile acid sequestration or other bile reducing mechanisms. It is not that common but I have it and I know of others who have it as well, with and without kidney tumours.  I don't have any gallstones. And I am not symptomatic. Therefore the recommendation was to leave it alone. Best of luck to you and your husband, no need to panic over this finding,  

  • sblairc
    sblairc Member Posts: 585 Member
    edited November 2016 #7
    Kat23502 said:

    Had he eaten for 8 hours

    Had he eaten for 8 hours prior?

    No

    Hi! Thanks for asking. No, he had not eaten anything before the CT scan. It was probably about 10 hours prior he ate

  • foxhd
    foxhd Member Posts: 3,181 Member
    #8
    I had mine

    removed 2 years before my cancer diagnosis. The kidney tumor should have been found at that time. But only an ultrasound was done. If I had had a ct scan, then I wouldn't have recieved 40-50 or more ct scans since then. Oh well.

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