Gall bladder cancer is a very uncommon condition, with approximately 500 new cases each year in the United Kingdom. It is very rare below the age of 50, and is most often seen in people between the ages of 70 to 75. It is three times more common in women than men.

Early gall bladder cancer usually causes no symptoms. Early cancers are usually discovered as an unexpected finding when someone has an operation to remove their gall bladder because of gallstones. About 1 in 5 gall bladder cancers are found in this way.

The majority of gall bladder cancers are only discovered when they have reached quite a late stage. These may cause a variety of symptoms and these have been grouped into five different patterns:

• an illness mimicking sudden inflammation of the gall bladder (acute cholecystitis), with the sudden onset of pain in the upper right hand side of the belly together with sickness and fever.
• an illness mimicking grumbling inflammation of the gall bladder (chronic cholecystitis), with episodes of intermittent pain in the upper right hand side of the belly, often accompanied by sickness.
• the development of jaundice, due to the cancer causing a blockage in the drainage of bile. This leads to a yellow tinge to the skin and the whites of the eyes. There are lots of different causes of jaundice, many of which are much more common than gall bladder cancer. When jaundice is due to a gall bladder cancer it usually accompanied by loss of weight and pain in the upper part of the belly.
• very occasionally there are no symptoms to point directly to the gall bladder and the tumour causes more general symptoms, such as loss of appetite, weight loss or general weakness.
• a very uncommon way for gall bladder cancers to show up is when they cause bleeding from bowel (faeces may look dark or black in colour) or a blockage of the bowel.