Written by Du Ning

Hepatobiliary Surgery

1min 8sec

Can gallbladder stones turn into liver cancer?

Long-term pathological changes from hepatobiliary calculi can lead to liver cancer. Hepatobiliary calculi generally refer to intrahepatic bile duct stones. When these stones grow in a single duct and gradually increase in number and size, they can cause obstruction of the bile duct. Obstruction of the bile duct subsequently leads to cholangitis, which involves repeated inflammatory irritation. This, in turn, can cause malignant transformation of the bile duct cells. Following this transformation, a tumor forms, which can develop into cholangiocellular carcinoma, a type of liver cancer. Therefore, if intrahepatic bile duct stones cause long-term inflammatory stimulation, it can lead to cancerous changes and result in liver cancer. Thus, if intrahepatic bile duct stones have already caused noticeable clinical symptoms such as abdominal pain, fever, and liver function abnormalities, aggressive surgical treatment should be considered.