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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.
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.
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).
Most pancreatic cancers arise in the head next to the bile duct, which is why jaundice is the presenting sign; bile duct cancers are named by where along the tree they sit.
Same organ: Glucagonoma, VIPoma, Somatostatinoma, Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, Biliary tract cancer (cholangiocarcinoma), Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma, Extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (perihilar and distal), Biliary tract cancer (all types), Neuroendocrine tumours, Pancreatic neuroendocrine tumours, Grade 3 well-differentiated neuroendocrine tumour, Extrapulmonary neuroendocrine carcinoma, Gallbladder cancer, Gallbladder adenocarcinoma, Papillary carcinoma of the gallbladder, Adenosquamous and squamous carcinoma of the gallbladder, Neuroendocrine carcinoma of the gallbladder, Incidental gallbladder cancer (found after cholecystectomy), Carcinoma in situ and dysplasia of the gallbladder, Cystic duct carcinoma, Ampullary cancer (ampulla of Vater), Resectable pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, Borderline resectable pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, Locally advanced unresectable pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, Metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, KRAS G12C-mutant pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, KRAS wild-type pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, BRCA or PALB2-mutant pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, Mismatch repair deficient (MSI-high) pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, Pancreatic acinar cell carcinoma, Intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm and other pancreatic cystic precursors, Pancreatoblastoma, Adenosquamous carcinoma of the pancreas, Colloid (mucinous non-cystic) carcinoma of the pancreas, Undifferentiated carcinoma of the pancreas with osteoclast-like giant cells, Invasive carcinoma arising in an intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm (IPMN-associated carcinoma), Mucinous cystic neoplasm of the pancreas with associated invasive carcinoma (MCN-associated carcinoma), Solid pseudopapillary neoplasm of the pancreas
As for gallbladder adenocarcinoma: radical cholecystectomy where resectable, capecitabine after resection, gemcitabine and cisplatin with immunotherapy when advanced.
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Query for this cancer: (TITLE:"Mucinous carcinoma of the gallbladder" OR ABSTRACT:"Mucinous carcinoma of the gallbladder" OR TITLE:"Mucinous adenocarcinoma of the gallbladder" OR ABSTRACT:"Mucinous adenocarcinoma of the gallbladder" OR TITLE:"Colloid carcinoma of the gallbladder" OR ABSTRACT:"Colloid carcinoma of the gallbladder") AND (treatment OR therapy OR trial OR survival OR diagnosis). Results are unfiltered search hits about Mucinous carcinoma of the gallbladder, not a curated reading list.
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Bleeding that does not stop by itself, bleeding from more than one site, or new bruising in several places or one large area.
The bowel cancer regimens share low blood counts, tiredness, sickness and a sore mouth. Oxaliplatin adds cold-triggered tingling, irinotecan adds early and late diarrhoea, capecitabine adds hand-foot syndrome and needs a DPD test first, and cetuximab or panitumumab add an acne-like rash and low magnesium. The rule for all of them: ring the 24-hour number rather than wait.
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