Standard Treatment No standard therapy is known to prolong survival in patients with advanced gall bladder cancer. The usual approach is a trial of chemotherapy with a single agent such as 5-FU or
mitomycin-C . Even if the tumor shrinks, patients may not benefit because of the side effects of the chemotherapy and because the tumor usually regrows very quickly.
Two-Year Survival Less than 1 percent
Investigational
• Combination chemotherapy or new drugs may prove to be better in the treatment of advanced gall bladder
cancer than therapies now available. Because the side effects are likely to be greater than those caused by
single-agent chemotherapy, such treatment should be done in a clinical protocol .
