Sarangi Y, Kumar A. Early detection of gallbladder cancer: Current status and future perspectives. World J Clin Oncol 2025; 16(7): 107781 [DOI: 10.5306/wjco.v16.i7.107781]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Ashok Kumar, FACS, FASCRS, FRCS, FRCS (Ed), Full Professor, Professor, Department of Surgical Gastroenterology, Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Raebareli Road, Lucknow 226014, Uttar Pradesh, India. doc.ashokgupta@gmail.com
Research Domain of This Article
Surgery
Article-Type of This Article
Review
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Clin Oncol. Jul 24, 2025; 16(7): 107781 Published online Jul 24, 2025. doi: 10.5306/wjco.v16.i7.107781
Early detection of gallbladder cancer: Current status and future perspectives
Yajnadatta Sarangi, Ashok Kumar
Yajnadatta Sarangi, Ashok Kumar, Department of Surgical Gastroenterology, Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow 226014, Uttar Pradesh, India
Co-first authors: Yajnadatta Sarangi and Ashok Kumar.
Author contributions: Sarangi Y did the literature search and wrote the manuscript; Kumar A designed the concept, revised and edited the manuscript; Sarangi Y and Kumar A contributed equally to this article, they are the co-first authors of this manuscript; and all authors thoroughly reviewed and endorsed the final manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Ashok Kumar, FACS, FASCRS, FRCS, FRCS (Ed), Full Professor, Professor, Department of Surgical Gastroenterology, Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Raebareli Road, Lucknow 226014, Uttar Pradesh, India. doc.ashokgupta@gmail.com
Received: April 1, 2025 Revised: April 15, 2025 Accepted: June 3, 2025 Published online: July 24, 2025 Processing time: 115 Days and 23 Hours
Abstract
Gall bladder cancer (GBC) remains a highly aggressive disease, with an overall 5-year dismal survival rate of 15%-20%. Its asymptomatic nature in very early stages and non-specific clinical presentations pose significant challenges to timely detection. Consequently, GBC often presents late, making it one of the most challenging cancers to manage. Surgery offers the best chance for long-term survival; however, only 10% of GBC patients are candidates for upfront resection, with the majority presenting in locally advanced or metastatic stages. Furthermore, GBC is generally resistant to chemotherapy and radiotherapy, limiting the effectiveness of systemic therapy. Therefore, early diagnosis is crucial to offer the best treatment through surgical resection and to improve the outcome. Recent advancements in imaging technologies, biomarker discovery, and molecular diagnostics offer promising avenues for enhancing detection rates. Though non-invasive, most of them lack specificity, and the majority fail as an early diagnostic tool. This review examines the current status of early detection strategies for GBC, addresses the limitations of existing approaches, and explores the newer emerging diagnostic tools and techniques and how they can be exploited in future for its early detection.
Core Tip: Gall bladder cancer is an aggressive disease with a dismal prognosis. Surgery offers the best treatment. However, most of the patients present late due to nonspecific symptoms and at a stage where resection is not feasible. Therefore, early detection is crucial for better outcomes. Identifying high-risk features, utilizing various imaging modalities, use of biomarkers, liquid biopsy and newer tools like artificial intelligence can aid in the early diagnosis.
