February is Gallbladder Cancer and Bile Duct Cancer Awareness Month
Join with the AACR to find better ways to prevent and treat gallbladder cancer and bile duct cancer.
Gallbladder cancer and bile duct cancer are relatively rare forms of cancer with an estimated 12,610 cases of both types combined diagnosed in 2025, according to the National Cancer Institute (NCI). Further, the NCI estimated that about 4,400 people would die from these cancers in 2025.
The gallbladder is a pear-shaped organ in the abdomen, below the liver. It collects and stores bile—a fluid made by the liver to aid with digestion of fats. The bile ducts are thin tube-like vessels that carry bile from the liver to the gallbladder and small intestine.
Bile duct cancer, also called cholangiocarcinoma, can either form in the ducts on the outside or inside of the liver. While both instances are rare, only a small number of cases form in the bile ducts within the liver, which is called intrahepatic bile duct cancer. When it forms on the outside of the liver it is called extrahepatic bile duct cancer.
Symptoms of both gallbladder and bile duct cancer include yellowing of the skin and/or the whites of the eyes (jaundice), abdominal pain, fever, and nausea and vomiting. Other symptoms of bile duct cancer include dark urine, clay-colored stool, itchy skin, and weight loss.
Cancer of the gallbladder is one of the 15 forms of cancer that have been linked to being overweight or obese, according to the AACR Cancer Progress Report 2025.
Disparities exist in the rates at which these cancers occur among minority populations. For example, Hispanic men and women are more than twice as likely as white men and women to be diagnosed with gallbladder cancer. Rates are also higher among Native American and Asian-Pacific Islander groups than among whites, according to the AACR Cancer Disparities Progress Report 2024.
The five-year relative survival rates for gallbladder cancer range from 4% when the cancer is diagnosed at an advanced stage to 67% when diagnosed while the cancer is still localized. For bile duct cancer, between 2013 to 2017, the death rate was 1.66 per 100,000 persons for intrahepatic bile duct cancer and 0.45 per 100,000 persons for other bile duct cancers, according to a study in the AACR journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.
more on gallbladder and bile duct cancer
- In recent years, researchers have looked into ways to make treatment more targeted to each type of bile duct cancer or to each patient. One approach has been to target the molecular features driving a patient’s bile duct tumor, while another has been to identify biomarkers to improve precision for immunotherapy. Learn more about how these approaches have led to approved treatments for bile duct cancers on the AACR’s blog, Cancer Research Catalyst.
- A study presented at the AACR Annual Meeting 2025 found that immune checkpoint inhibitors, a type of immunotherapy, could help some patients with early-stage mismatch repair-deficient (dMMR) cancers avoid surgery. Among the 117 patients in the trial, 54 had cancers in the the urinary system, bile ducts, gallbladder, liver, and pancreas. Patients with these cancer types had 100% complete response rates to the immunotherapy. In total, 84 people had a complete response and 82 of them opted to avoid surgery. Learn more about this study in Cancer Today.
for more information
Please see our pages on gallbladder cancer and bile duct cancer, which include detailed information on treatment for these forms of cancer.
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