Treatment for Gall Bladder Cancer

It uses high-energy rays or beams to kill the cancerous cells of the gallbladder and stop them from multiplying. Radiation uses a machine outside the body that emits a beam of X-rays or particles aimed at cancer. It is a painless procedure and lasts only for a few minutes. Radiation therapy is usually given five days a week for many weeks until treated. 

Radiation therapy can be used in the following cases: 

1. After the surgery kills any cancer cells that might have been left as adjuvant therapy.
2. As a part of main therapy in cases when cancer has not spread to other parts of the body but cannot be removed surgically
3. Palliative care provides relief from the pain and symptoms and helps the person live longer, which is carried out when cancer is too advanced to be cured.

The drugs or the combination of drugs used to treat the cancer are called chemotherapy. It can be given as the main treatment or to relieve the symptoms due to cancer. Chemotherapy works by destroying or killing the cancerous cells by keeping the cancer cells from growing, diving, spreading, and preventing the making of more cells. It can be used in the following ways:

1. As palliative care for the treatment of gallbladder cancer by shrinking cancerous cells of the gallbladder or by slowing their growth
2.  As an adjuvant treatment after the surgery to kill the remaining cancer cells if left and to reduce the chances of cancer coming back
3. As the main treatment for far advanced cancer that cannot be removed and has spread to other body parts, it does not cure cancer but helps people live longer.
4. As neoadjuvant chemotherapy is used before the surgery 

Chemotherapy can be given through the mouth or into a vein. These drugs reach all the body parts through the blood and destroy the cancerous cells. The different drugs used to treat gallbladder cancer are Fluorouracil, Cisplatin, Gemcitabine, Oxaliplatin, and Nab-paclitaxel.

Immunotherapy

The use of medicines to boost the person's immune system or body's defence system to fight against cancer is called Immunotherapy. It helps the immune system better recognize and differentiate the cancerous cells from the healthy cells and destroy them. It works by strengthening the immune system to fight cancerous cells. Immunotherapy is recommended for gall bladder cancers widely spread to other body parts and cannot be removed surgically. It is also called biological therapy. 

The two immunotherapy drugs approved for the treatment of gall bladder cancer are:

1. Pembrolizumab (Keytruda)
2. Nivolumab (Opdivo)

It is a type of treatment that utilises certain substances or drugs to identify, target, and destroy specific cancerous cells. It is called target therapy because the drugs target the mutations that make the cancer cells different from the healthy cells. As a result, it causes less harm to healthy or normal cells than radiation therapy and chemotherapy. For example, targeted therapy is used to treat gallbladder cancer which cannot be successfully removed by surgery and has spread to other body parts. Some targeted therapies used in the treatment of gallbladder cancer are: 

1. Ivosidenib target therapy: It slows or stops the growth of cancerous cells in the gallbladder by blocking the specific mutation in a gene called IDHI.
2. Pemigatinib target therapy: It keeps the cancerous cells from growing and killing them by blocking the specific changes in a gene called FGFR2.
3. Pemazyre target therapy:  It prevents the cancerous cells from growing by targeting certain mutations in the FGFR2.