{"entity":{"id":"gallbladder-polyp","kind":"term","name":"Gallbladder polyp (polypoid lesion)","aka":["Polypoid lesion of the gallbladder","Gallbladder adenoma","Cholesterol polyp","Gallbladder polypoid lesion"],"tldr":"A small growth on the inside wall of the gallbladder, usually spotted by chance on an ultrasound scan. Most are harmless cholesterol deposits; the risk of cancer rises with size, so polyps of 10 mm or more are removed with the gallbladder and smaller ones are watched or left alone according to set rules.","summary":"Ultrasound-detected gallbladder polyps are common and mostly cholesterol polyps or adenomyomatosis rather than true neoplasms. A systematic review of 5,482 polyps found 0.57 percent malignant and true (neoplastic) polyps in 0.60 percent, with size the main predictor (Elmasry 2016); Cancer Research UK summarises that about 8 percent of polyps of 10 mm or more are malignant and about 4 percent of polyps are that size. The 2022 joint guideline of ESGAR, EAES, EFISDS and ESGE sets the rules: ultrasound as the primary test; cholecystectomy for polyps of 10 mm or more, for symptomatic polyps with no other cause, and for 6 to 9 mm polyps with a risk factor (age over 60, primary sclerosing cholangitis, Asian ethnicity, or a sessile polyp including focal wall thickening over 4 mm); ultrasound follow-up at 6 months, 1 and 2 years for 6 to 9 mm polyps without risk factors and for polyps of 5 mm or less with a risk factor, stopping at 2 years if there is no growth; no follow-up for polyps of 5 mm or less without risk factors; surgery if a polyp reaches 10 mm, discussion if it grows 2 mm or more; and an end to monitoring if it disappears (Foley 2022). In primary sclerosing cholangitis polyps were found in 16 percent of 453 patients and most were benign, with cancer associated with size over 10 mm, growth or a mass-like appearance (van Erp 2020). The mass-forming preinvasive neoplasm of 1 cm or more is the intracholecystic papillary neoplasm (Adsay 2012).","asOf":"2026-09-24","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallbladder_polyp","links":[{"label":"ESGAR, EAES, EFISDS and ESGE joint guideline on gallbladder polyps (Foley, Eur Radiol 2022)","url":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-021-08384-w"},{"label":"Elmasry, Int J Surg 2016: risk of malignancy in ultrasound-detected gallbladder polyps","url":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijsu.2016.07.061"},{"label":"CRUK: gallbladder cancer risk factors (professional)","url":"https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/health-professional/cancer-statistics/statistics-by-cancer-type/gallbladder-cancer/risk-factors"},{"label":"van Erp, Liver Int 2020: gallbladder polyps and cancer risk in primary sclerosing cholangitis","url":"https://doi.org/10.1111/liv.14326"},{"label":"Adsay, Am J Surg Pathol 2012: intracholecystic papillary-tubular neoplasms, 123 cases","url":"https://doi.org/10.1097/pas.0b013e318262787c"}],"tags":["gallbladder","biliary"],"related":[],"cancers":["gallbladder","gallbladder-papillary-carcinoma","gallbladder-carcinoma-in-situ-and-dysplasia"],"sections":[],"technologies":["ultrasound"],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":["screening","overdiagnosis"],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":["paper-gallbladder-polyp-joint-guideline-eur-radiol-2022","paper-szpakowski-gallbladder-polyps-20-year-cohort-jama-netw-open-2020","paper-wennmacker-gallbladder-polyp-size-threshold-surg-endosc-2019","paper-elmasry-gallbladder-polyp-malignancy-systematic-review-int-j-surg-2016"],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":["Natural history: polypoid lesions are found on 4 to 6 percent of adult abdominal ultrasound scans, and in a 20-year Kaiser Permanente cohort of 35,856 people with polyps the cancer rate was 11.3 per 100,000 person-years and did not differ from people without polyps, though it rose steeply above 10 mm (Szpakowski 2020); in the Dutch pathology archive the 1 cm threshold sorted neoplastic from non-neoplastic polyps only moderately well (Wennmacker 2019)."],"category":"Clinic basics"},"route":"/terms/gallbladder-polyp/","neighbours":{"cancer":[{"id":"gallbladder-carcinoma-in-situ-and-dysplasia","kind":"cancer","name":"Carcinoma in situ and dysplasia of the gallbladder","route":"/cancers/gallbladder-carcinoma-in-situ-and-dysplasia/"},{"id":"gallbladder","kind":"cancer","name":"Gallbladder cancer","route":"/cancers/gallbladder/"},{"id":"gallbladder-papillary-carcinoma","kind":"cancer","name":"Papillary carcinoma of the gallbladder","route":"/cancers/gallbladder-papillary-carcinoma/"}],"technology":[{"id":"ultrasound","kind":"technology","name":"Ultrasound","route":"/technologies/ultrasound/"}],"term":[{"id":"overdiagnosis","kind":"term","name":"Overdiagnosis","route":"/terms/overdiagnosis/"},{"id":"prophylactic-cholecystectomy","kind":"term","name":"Prophylactic (preventive) cholecystectomy","route":"/terms/prophylactic-cholecystectomy/"},{"id":"screening","kind":"term","name":"Screening","route":"/terms/screening/"}],"paper":[{"id":"paper-gallbladder-polyp-joint-guideline-eur-radiol-2022","kind":"paper","name":"Management and follow-up of gallbladder polyps: updated joint guidelines between the ESGAR, EAES, EFISDS and ESGE","route":"/key-papers/paper-gallbladder-polyp-joint-guideline-eur-radiol-2022/"},{"id":"paper-szpakowski-gallbladder-polyps-20-year-cohort-jama-netw-open-2020","kind":"paper","name":"Outcomes of Gallbladder Polyps and Their Association With Gallbladder Cancer in a 20-Year Cohort","route":"/key-papers/paper-szpakowski-gallbladder-polyps-20-year-cohort-jama-netw-open-2020/"},{"id":"paper-wennmacker-gallbladder-polyp-size-threshold-surg-endosc-2019","kind":"paper","name":"Polyp size of 1 cm is insufficient to discriminate neoplastic and non-neoplastic gallbladder polyps","route":"/key-papers/paper-wennmacker-gallbladder-polyp-size-threshold-surg-endosc-2019/"},{"id":"paper-elmasry-gallbladder-polyp-malignancy-systematic-review-int-j-surg-2016","kind":"paper","name":"The risk of malignancy in ultrasound detected gallbladder polyps: A systematic review","route":"/key-papers/paper-elmasry-gallbladder-polyp-malignancy-systematic-review-int-j-surg-2016/"}],"roadmap":[{"id":"gallbladder-cancer-roadmap","kind":"roadmap","name":"Gallbladder cancer roadmap: from a chance finding at gallstone surgery to a disease with its own trials","route":"/roadmaps/gallbladder-cancer-roadmap/"}],"idea":[{"id":"idea-gbc-risk-targeted-ultrasound-in-high-incidence-regions","kind":"idea","name":"Risk-targeted ultrasound screening in high-incidence regions, tested against usual care","route":"/ideas/idea-gbc-risk-targeted-ultrasound-in-high-incidence-regions/"}]}}