OnCo
Living with cancer· Appointment prep

Appointment sheet: Gallbladder adenocarcinoma

One page to bring and write on: your details, the questions for Gallbladder adenocarcinoma plus your own, the words you may hear, what to bring, the treatments the standard of care names, and room for the answers and agreed next steps. What you type stays in this browser. Print it or save it as a PDF. New to all this? Start with the first 60 days. Orientation, not medical advice.

11 questions

Tick the questions to print

All of this cancer's questions start ticked. Untick what does not apply; ticks are kept in this browser. .

Your own questions

Shared with the prep pack, so questions you add there appear here too.

Print or save as PDF

Use (or Ctrl+P, Cmd+P on a Mac). To keep a copy, choose Save as PDF as the destination in the print dialog. Only the sheet prints; the controls stay on screen. Your typed notes print where you typed them; empty fields print as ruled lines to write on.

Appointment sheet

Gallbladder adenocarcinoma

Prepared with OnCo (onco.cc/prep/gallbladder-adenocarcinoma/). Orientation, not medical advice; your team knows your case.

My details

Name
Date of appointment
Hospital and clinician
Who is coming with me

What I know, what is unclear, changes to discuss

Saved in this browser
What I know so far
What is unclear to me
Changes since last time

My questions

11 on the sheet
Newly diagnosed
  1. 1.What is my exact diagnosis, stage, and grade, and which tests established them?
  2. 2.Which biomarkers have been tested on my tumour (for example Grade 1 to 3, T category and T2a or T2b side, Node number, Cystic duct margin, HER2, mismatch repair, BRAF V600E and NTRK on the molecular page), and what were the results?
  3. 3.Which subtype is my cancer, and does that change the recommended treatment?
  4. 4.Is germline (inherited) genetic testing recommended for me or my family?
Resectable disease
  1. 5.For my situation (resectable disease), which of the standard options do you recommend and why?
  2. 6.Am I a candidate for Capecitabine, and what side effects should I expect?
  3. 7.How do the results of BILCAP apply to someone like me?
Advanced disease
  1. 8.For my situation (advanced disease), which of the standard options do you recommend and why?
  2. 9.Am I a candidate for Gemcitabine + cisplatin, Durvalumab, Pembrolizumab or related drugs, and what side effects should I expect?
Any stage
  1. 10.Would a second opinion at a high-volume centre change anything, and can you help arrange it?
  2. 11.What supportive care (symptom control, nutrition, exercise, mental health, financial help) is available from the start?

The words I may hear

  • T2a versus T2b gallbladder cancer (peritoneal side versus hepatic side): Two labels for a gallbladder cancer that has grown through the muscle layer but is still inside the gallbladder.
  • Segment IVb and V liver resection (versus wedge resection): Two ways of removing the piece of liver the gallbladder sits on during a gallbladder cancer operation: a wedge of about two centimetres around the gallbladder bed, or the whole of the two anatomical liver segments (IVb and V) that touch it.
  • Cystic duct margin: The cut end of the short duct that joined the gallbladder to the main bile duct, examined by the pathologist after a gallbladder is removed.
  • Simple cholecystectomy: The standard operation to remove the gallbladder, almost always by keyhole surgery for gallstones.
  • Radical (extended) cholecystectomy: The cancer operation for gallbladder cancer: the gallbladder (if still present) is removed together with a rim of the liver it sits against and the lymph nodes along the bile duct and liver blood vessels.
  • Grade: How abnormal the cancer cells look under the microscope, from grade 1 (close to normal, slow) to grade 3 or 4 (wildly abnormal, fast).

Tests and results to bring

Biomarker results to ask for: Grade 1 to 3, T category and T2a or T2b side, Node number (N1 one to three, N2 four or more), Cystic duct margin, HER2, mismatch repair, BRAF V600E and NTRK on the molecular page.

Bring copies of scan reports, pathology and blood results, and a list of every medicine and supplement.

The treatments I may be offered

From the standard of care recorded for this cancer; which apply depends on your stage and biomarkers. Ask which the team recommends and why.

Answers and next steps

Saved in this browser
What I was told
Agreed next steps, dates and who to call