Types of Cancer :: Gallbladder Cancer
What is the gallbladder, and what does it do?
It is a small pear-shaped organ that stores and concentrates a substance called bile. Bile is a substance that aids in digestion and is made in the liver. The gallbladder and liver are connected by the hepatic duct.
When you eat fatty food, the food passes from the stomach into the small intestine, and triggers the lining of the small bowel to release a hormone called CCK (cholecystokinin). CCK is then carried in the bloodstream to the gallbladder, where it causes the gallbladder to contract and send bile through the common bile duct and into the small bowel duodenum. Gallstones form when the substances contained in bile crystallize into small, hard rocks.
How common is gallbladder cancer?
Primary cancer of the gallbladder affects about 6000 adults in the US each year.
posted by Dave Stone @ 1/06/2006 02:40:00 PM
