Cancer
Gallstones linked to high risk of biliary tract cancer
By Sue Mueller
Nov 22, 2007 - 10:01:57 PM

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THURSDAY NOV 22, 2007 (Foodconsumer.org) -- If you suffer from gallstones, you may need to take a note of it.  A new study found that those who suffered gallstones were much more likely to develop certain cancers.

The study published in the November 13, 2007 issue of the British Journal of Cancer showed those who had gallstones were 23.8 times more likely to develop gallbladder cancer compared to those who did not.

In addition, gallstones were also found highly associated with high risk of cancers of extrahepatic bile ducts and ampulla of Vater, 8.0 and 4.2 times higher respectively in those who suffered gallstones than those who did not.

The study led by Hsing AW from the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland and colleagues was based on a population-based study of 627 patients with biliary tract cancers (368 of gallbladder, 191 bile duct and 68 ampulla of Vater), 1037 with biliary stones, all from Shanghai, China. The patients were compared to 959 healthy controls.

The biliary cancer risks were particularly higher among those who had both gallstones and self-reported cholecystitis. Pigment stones were more associated with bile duct cancer while cholesterol stones were more likely linked to gallbladder cancer.

The researchers estimated that in Shanghai 80 percent of gallbladder cancer cases, 59 percent of bile duct cancer cases and 41 percent of ampulla of Vater cancer may be attributed to gallstones.

Readers need to be advised that the study could not reveal any causal relationship between gallstones and risk of biliary tract cancer, a scientist affiliated with foodconsumer.org suggested.

Gallstone and the biliary tract cancer may be caused by the same cause and that is why they are associated with rather than independent of each other.

Another study published in the January 1999 issue of the American Society for Clinical Nutrition suggested "a sedentary lifestyle and a diet rich in animal fats and refined sugars and poor in vegetable fats and fibers are significant risk factors for gallstone formation."

The study was conducted by Giovanni Misciagna from State University of New York at Buffalo and colleagues in Italy.