Enlarged Bile Duct And Pancreatic Cancer

Jaundice usually occurs without abdominal pain.

Enlarged bile duct and pancreatic cancer.

Your doctor may recommend that a plastic or metal tube stent be placed inside the bile duct to hold it open. Pancreatic cancer that blocks the liver s bile duct can cause jaundice. Bile duct cancer refers to all cancers that develop within the biliary system. Bile ducts connect your liver to your gallbladder and to your small intestine.

Signs include yellow skin and eyes dark colored urine and pale colored stools. Cirrhosis may develop in bile duct cancer. The mayo clinic explains that bile duct cancer also known as cholangiocarcinoma is cancer that forms in the slender tubes bile ducts that carry the digestive fluid known as bile. Malignant cancer of the bile duct is called cholangiocarcinoma and grows slowly.

Pancreatic cancers can cause a bile duct obstruction if the tumor enters. The resulting tumors may block a bile duct. Obstruction of the bile duct can lead to infection of the bile drainage system or cholangitis. This may be due to the tumor obstructing the bile duct and causing liver cell destruction and scarring.

This is especially true in patients with primary sclerosing cholangitis. This condition also known as bile duct cancer is an uncommon form of cancer that occurs mostly in people older than age 50 though it can occur at any age.