Gallbladder Cancer
Treatment in Malaysia

At Onco Life Centre, our team takes a personalized approach to treating gallbladder cancer, offering comprehensive gallbladder cancer treatment in Malaysia. We focus not only on treating the disease but also on supporting the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of our patients every step of the way.

Talk to a doctor

Understanding the Gallbladder and Its Structure

The gallbladder is part of the body’s biliary tract and located just under the liver. Bile travels through the liver to the gallbladder through the intrahepatic bile ducts for storage. It is released from the gallbladder through the common bile duct.

The gallbladder’s wall is made up of 3 main layers of tissue:

Mucosa: The innermost layer of tissue that covers the wall of the gallbladder.

Muscularis: The middle layer of smooth muscle.

Serosa: The outer layer of tissue.

Why Choose Onco Life Centre?

Expertise You Can Trust, Innovation You Can Count On

Over 20 Years of
Experience

Our highly-qualified consultant oncologists boast extensive experience treating a vast array of cancers. Their training at prestigious institutions in Australia and the UK ensures exceptional expertise that you can trust.

Collaboration with
Leading Genomics Experts

For complex cases, our oncologists collaborate with leading genomics specialists in the US. This ensures access to the latest treatments for all cancer types.

Unmatched
patient experience

You and your healthcare experience are at the centre of what we do at Onco Life Centre. Our core values of Empathy, Dedication, Professionalism and Service Quality have driven us since our earliest days.

Treatment Methods

Treatment recommendations by our cancer specialists at Onco Life Centre for gallbladder cancer treatment are tailored and personalized, depending on tumor stage, tumor genomics (KRAS, NRAS, KRAS G12C, HER2, PDL1, TMB, MSI, NTRK1-3 fusion, BRAF, BRCA1, BRCA2, PALB2 gene mutation status), pre-existing medical conditions, your overall health, and nutritional status.

Targeted therapy and immunotherapy is the foundation of precision medicine. Our Oncologists at Onco Life Centre work in close collaboration with Cancer Genomics Experts in the US to perform cancer gene mapping and DNA sequencing on our patients’ cancer tissue. Regular teleconferencing and live exchange of information with the US Genomics Experts allows our Oncologists to specifically design unique treatment plans for our patients. By targeting specific genes and proteins that are involved in driving cancer survival and progression, our patients at Onco Life Centre are experiencing significant and sustained improvements in their cancer responses and living longer.

At Onco Life Centre, we have made it our mission to improve the everyday lives of our patients. Our Oncologists and Pharmacists will seek to identify Compassionate Drug Access Programs that allows pre-approved new drugs outside clinical trials (and prior to product launch) for our patients who do not have satisfactory therapy options available.

Surgery

Cholecystectomy.
An extended cholecystectomy is the removal of the gallbladder, small margin of liver tissue located next to the gallbladder and lymph nodes in the region.
Radical gallbladder resection.
This procedure involves the removal of the gallbladder, a wedge-shaped section of the liver near the gallbladder, the common bile duct and the lymph nodes around the pancreas and nearby blood vessels.
Palliative surgery.
Surgery may sometimes help relieve symptoms caused by gallbladder cancer, even if the tumor cannot be removed completely.

Targeted therapy

Targeted therapy is a treatment that targets the cancer’s specific genes, proteins or the tissue environment that contributes to cancer growth and survival. This type of treatment blocks the growth and spread of cancer cells while limiting damage to healthy cells. To match your cancer disease with the most effective treatment, our oncologist at Onco Life Centre may run tests to identify the genes, proteins, and other factors in your tumor.

Please click here to learn more about Targeted Therapy.

Immunotherapy

Immunotherapy is designed to boost the body’s natural defenses to fight the cancer. In 2022, the FDA approved an immune checkpoint inhibitor combined with chemotherapy for locally advanced or metastatic gallbladder cancer. An immune checkpoint is a protein that can stop the body’s immune system from responding to cancer cells. By blocking the immune checkpoint PD-1, it allows the immune system to find and attack cancer cells.

Other immune checkpoint inhibitors are approved for all microsatellite instability-high (MSI-H) tumors, including for MSI-H gallbladder cancer. MSI is a genomic marker that indicates a flaw in a cell’s ability to repair damaged DNA, which can lead to an increase in genetic changes, or mutations. These mutations produce abnormal proteins on the tumor cells that allow immune cells to find and attack the tumor more easily.

Please click here to learn more about Immunotherapy.

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy is the use of drugs to destroy cancer cells, usually by stopping the cancer cells’ ability to grow and divide. Combination treatments are usually best for patients who are able to carry out their usual activities of daily living without help.

Chemotherapy may be used before surgery to shrink the tumor. It may also be used when surgery is not an option. Chemotherapy should be given after surgery to help prevent a recurrence. Additionally, people with hilar cholangiocarcinoma and extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma may also receive chemoradiotherapy after surgery to destroy remaining cancer cells when there is a “positive margin” that can be seen with a microscope.

Metastatic gallbladder cancer

If cancer spreads to another part in the body from where it started, doctors call it metastatic cancer. Your treatment plan may include a combination of the treatments discussed above. Talk to our oncologists about your first and second line treatment options, which can heavily depend on your overall health and preferences.
Palliative care will also be important to help relieve symptoms and side effects. For most patients, a diagnosis of metastatic cancer is very stressful and, at times, difficult to bear.

Treatment By Stage

In general, stages 0, 1, 2 and 3 colorectal cancer are often curable with surgery. However, many patients with stage 3 colorectal cancer, and some with stage 2, receive chemotherapy after surgery to increase the chance of eliminating the disease. Patients with stage 2 and 3 rectal cancer will also receive radiation therapy with chemotherapy either before or after surgery.

Stage 0 colorectal cancer

The usual treatment is a polypectomy, or removal of a polyp, during a colonoscopy.

Stage 1 colorectal cancer

The usual treatment is a polypectomy, or removal of a polyp, during a colonoscopy.

Stage 2 colorectal cancer

Surgery is often the first treatment. Patients with stage 2 colorectal cancer can talk to our oncologists at Onco Life Centre about whether adjuvant chemotherapy is needed after surgery to destroy any remaining cancer cells. For patients with stage 2 rectal cancer, radiation therapy is usually given in combination with chemotherapy, either before or after surgery.

Stage 3 colorectal cancer

Treatment for stage 3 colon cancer usually involves surgical removal of the tumor followed by adjuvant chemotherapy. For patients with rectal cancer, radiation therapy may be used along with chemotherapy before or after surgery, along with adjuvant chemotherapy.

Metastatic (stage 4) colorectal cancer

Colorectal cancer can spread to distant organs, such as the liver, lungs, the tissue called the peritoneum that lines the abdomen, or a woman’s ovaries. Our oncologists at Onco Life Centre will help you tailor your treatment plan, which may include a combination of surgery, radiotherapy, targeted therapy, immunotherapy and chemotherapy. If the colorectal cancer has spread only to the liver (colorectal cancer liver metastasis) and if surgery is possible either before or after chemotherapy, there is a chance of complete cure. Even when curing the cancer is not possible, surgery may add months or even years to a person’s life. Determining who can benefit from surgery for cancer that has spread to the liver is often a complicated process that involves doctors of multiple specialties working together to plan the best treatment option. The role of immunotherapy for advanced colon cancer treatment has been promising. Using immuntherapy in patients with mismatch-repair-deficient mutations or microsatellite instability in their tumors has shown remarkable results. An immunue-checkpoint inhibitor can be used on its own, or in combination with CTLA4 inhibitor for such patients.

Transparency You Can Trust

At Onco Life Centre, we understand the financial burden associated with gallbladder cancer treatment. We are committed to transparency and will provide you with a personalized cost estimate during your initial consultation. Here is an estimate:

Chemotherapy

The cost for treating gallbladder cancer using chemotherapy for most of our patients is around MYR7,000 per cycle.

Targeted Therapy:

Adding in Targeted Therapy can go up to MYR6,000, depending on the specific type of targeted therapy drug used.

Immunotherapy

Immunotherapy can range from MYR8,000 and above depending on the specific type and dosage of immunotherapy drugs used.

Symptoms

Itch due to buildup of bile salts in the skin
Jaundice
Unexplained weight loss
Nausea and vomiting
Fever
Abdominal pain

Your Journey

Start Your Recovery

Our dedicated Patient Navigator will assist you with appointment scheduling. Contact us at +6012-3993260 (Call or Whatsapp ).

First Consultation

On appointment day, bring along all the medical reports and your identity documents, ie. identity card or passport. Our team will help you organize the medical reports for our oncologist to review. Our oncologist will discuss the treatment plan with you. Tele-consult is available for overseas patients.

Treatment Day

Come to our center on an agreed date and time for the treatment. Our team will take good care of you. You will be discharged on the same day. Yes, you will get to go home after every treatment visit as no overnight admission is required.

Stay on Track

Our dedicated patient navigator will be following up with you post treatment to check on your condition, to ensure that you are doing well. You will receive a reminder message on your phone for the next appointment date.