# Mucinous carcinoma of the gallbladder

Source: https://onco.cc/cancers/gallbladder-mucinous-carcinoma/  
OnCo record `gallbladder-mucinous-carcinoma` (Cancer). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Mucinous carcinoma is a rare gallbladder cancer in which the cancer cells sit in pools of mucus that make up more than half the tumour. It affects men almost as often as women, is larger than usual at diagnosis, and often presents like an acute gallbladder attack. It is staged and treated like other gallbladder adenocarcinomas.

## Summary

The WHO defines mucinous carcinoma by extracellular (stromal) mucin forming more than 50 percent of the tumour. In the only sizeable series, 606 invasive gallbladder carcinomas were reviewed: 40 (6.6 percent) showed some mucinous differentiation and 15 (2.5 percent) met the definition. Mean age was 65; the female to male ratio was 1.1, against 3.9 for conventional pancreatobiliary-type adenocarcinoma; two thirds (8 of 12 with records) presented with a clinical picture and operative findings read as acute cholecystitis; and the tumours were larger (mean 4.8 cm and median 3.4 cm, against 2.9 and 2.5 cm) (Dursun 2012). Cancer Research UK describes the type simply as cancer cells often lying in pools of mucus. Mucin in Rokitansky-Aschoff sinuses can mimic mucinous carcinoma and is a recognised pathology pitfall (Albores-Saavedra 2009).

What differs in treatment: nothing formally. There is no type-specific trial evidence, so mucinous carcinoma is staged by TNM 8th edition and treated as gallbladder adenocarcinoma: radical cholecystectomy where resectable, adjuvant capecitabine, and gemcitabine and cisplatin with immunotherapy for advanced disease. The practical differences are the larger size and inflammatory presentation, which raise the chance that the cancer is unsuspected at the first operation, and the pathology pitfall above.

## Fields

- Kind: Cancer
- Last checked: 2026-09-24
- Also known as: Mucinous adenocarcinoma of the gallbladder; Colloid carcinoma of the gallbladder
- Tags: gallbladder; biliary; subtype-page
- Group: gastrointestinal
- Burden: About 2.5 percent of gallbladder carcinomas by the WHO definition: 15 of 606 in the defining series, with some mucin production in 6.6 percent (Dursun 2012).
- Subtypes: Mucinous (colloid) carcinoma of the gallbladder, more than 50 percent stromal mucin; Gallbladder adenocarcinoma with a minor mucinous component (not classified as mucinous carcinoma)
- Biomarkers: Share of the tumour made up of extracellular mucin (over 50 percent defines the type); T category and nodal status as for adenocarcinoma

## Sections of this record

The page is a hub with ten sections in reading order; large sections have their own page. The same plan as JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/cancers/gallbladder-mucinous-carcinoma/sections.json

- Overview (on the hub): The TL;DR, the family this cancer belongs to, the organ, who gets it and what the state of the art is. https://onco.cc/cancers/gallbladder-mucinous-carcinoma/#overview
- Types and stages (on the hub): Anatomy, the subtypes and how they differ, how it is staged, and where advanced disease spreads. https://onco.cc/cancers/gallbladder-mucinous-carcinoma/#what-it-is [2 subtypes]
- Symptoms and diagnosis (on the hub): How this cancer shows itself, how the diagnosis is confirmed, and the biomarkers clinicians test for. https://onco.cc/cancers/gallbladder-mucinous-carcinoma/#finding-it [2 biomarkers]
- Treatment (on the hub): The standard of care by setting, the medicines, surgery and radiotherapy named in it, and the regimens behind them. https://onco.cc/cancers/gallbladder-mucinous-carcinoma/#treating-it [1 setting, 1 decision with options]
- Trials and papers (on the hub): Trials recruiting now, the landmark trials, the trials held by this cancer's subtypes, the key papers and what they mean, the latest literature, and the milestones year by year. https://onco.cc/cancers/gallbladder-mucinous-carcinoma/#evidence
- Biology and targets (on the hub): The molecular landscape: the targets and how often each appears, the pathways, the mechanics stages and the preclinical models. https://onco.cc/cancers/gallbladder-mucinous-carcinoma/#science
- Countries and centres (own page): Cases by country, the UK and NHS pathway and other country lenses, the expert centres with trials on record, and the centres named on this cancer's subtypes. https://onco.cc/cancers/gallbladder-mucinous-carcinoma/where-you-are/
- Decisions and support (on the hub): The decisions you may face, the aids that walk through them, the warnings on record, the first sixty days and the questions to ask. https://onco.cc/cancers/gallbladder-mucinous-carcinoma/#living-with-it [8 questions, 2 red cards]
- Pipeline and open problems (own page): Everything in development, the medicines held by this cancer's subtypes, the open problems and what is being done about them, the roadmaps, and what changed on this record. https://onco.cc/cancers/gallbladder-mucinous-carcinoma/coming/ [2 medicines]
- Data (own page): Every connected record, the notes, the JSON, Markdown and RDF twins, and where the record came from and when it was checked. https://onco.cc/cancers/gallbladder-mucinous-carcinoma/data/ [7 connected records]

## Standard of care

- All stages: As for gallbladder adenocarcinoma: radical cholecystectomy where resectable, capecitabine after resection, gemcitabine and cisplatin with immunotherapy when advanced. ([Gallbladder adenocarcinoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/gallbladder-adenocarcinoma/), [Radical (extended) cholecystectomy](https://onco.cc/terms/radical-cholecystectomy/), [Capecitabine](https://onco.cc/drugs/capecitabine/), [Gemcitabine + cisplatin](https://onco.cc/drugs/gemcitabine-cisplatin/))

## Sources

- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mucinous_carcinoma
- Dursun, Arch Pathol Lab Med 2012: mucinous carcinomas of the gallbladder, 15 of 606 carcinomas: https://doi.org/10.5858/arpa.2011-0447-oa
- CRUK: types of gallbladder cancer: https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/gallbladder-cancer/types
- Albores-Saavedra, Am J Surg Pathol 2009: mucin-containing Rokitansky-Aschoff sinuses simulating mucinous carcinoma: https://doi.org/10.1097/pas.0b013e3181b63d66
- Nagtegaal, Histopathology 2020: the 2019 WHO classification of tumours of the digestive system: https://doi.org/10.1111/his.13975

## Connected records

- cancers: [Colloid (mucinous non-cystic) carcinoma of the pancreas](https://onco.cc/cancers/pancreatic-colloid-carcinoma/), [Gallbladder adenocarcinoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/gallbladder-adenocarcinoma/), [Gallbladder cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/gallbladder/), [Papillary carcinoma of the gallbladder](https://onco.cc/cancers/gallbladder-papillary-carcinoma/)
- terms: [Radical (extended) cholecystectomy](https://onco.cc/terms/radical-cholecystectomy/), [Rokitansky-Aschoff sinus](https://onco.cc/terms/rokitansky-aschoff-sinus/)
- drugs: [Capecitabine](https://onco.cc/drugs/capecitabine/), [Gemcitabine + cisplatin](https://onco.cc/drugs/gemcitabine-cisplatin/)

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JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/entities/gallbladder-mucinous-carcinoma.json