OnCo
Living with cancer· Appointment prep

Appointment sheet: Neuroendocrine carcinoma of the gallbladder

One page to bring and write on: your details, the questions for Neuroendocrine carcinoma of the gallbladder 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.

9 questions

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Your own questions

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

Print or save as PDF

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Appointment sheet

Neuroendocrine carcinoma of the gallbladder

Prepared with OnCo (onco.cc/prep/gallbladder-neuroendocrine-carcinoma/). 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

9 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 Synaptophysin, chromogranin A and CD56 on immunohistochemistry, Ki-67 proliferation index, Loss of pRB or p16 and mutant-pattern p53, Serum chromogranin A, Share of neuroendocrine versus adenocarcinoma component), 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?
Localised disease
  1. 5.For my situation (localised disease), which of the standard options do you recommend and why?
Advanced disease
  1. 6.For my situation (advanced disease), which of the standard options do you recommend and why?
  2. 7.Am I a candidate for Cisplatin, and what side effects should I expect?
Any stage
  1. 8.Would a second opinion at a high-volume centre change anything, and can you help arrange it?
  2. 9.What supportive care (symptom control, nutrition, exercise, mental health, financial help) is available from the start?

The words I may hear

  • Lymphovascular invasion (LVI): The pathologist has seen cancer cells inside small lymph or blood vessels in the removed tissue: a sign the tumour has found the exit routes, even if the nodes are clear.
  • Perineural invasion (PNI): Cancer cells growing along the sheath of a nerve.
  • 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: Synaptophysin, chromogranin A and CD56 on immunohistochemistry, Ki-67 proliferation index (median 70 percent), Loss of pRB or p16 and mutant-pattern p53, Serum chromogranin A (proposed), Share of neuroendocrine versus adenocarcinoma component.

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