Gallbladder polyp anyone?

[ByLovingGuide]

Hi I have a 3.1mm polyp in my gallbladder it was discovered in January incidentally when going for a liver scan due to oc in pregnancy.
so they said I would need to have a rescan in 6 months which I had on Saturday. The polyp has not changed in size or anything. But need to be rescanned again in 6 months and if no change then again after a year. What I don’t understand guidance say if under 5mm no need to have a rescan if no change…so why do I still need to be rescanned…I’m so confused 🫤 anyone had this?

I have this too! It was found by accident a few years ago! Mine is a bit bigger. It was 7mm when they found it and it’s grown a mm each year (they scan annually). It’s now just under 10mm, so they have offered to remove gallbladder, which I’ve agreed to. They like to just keep an eye on them, as once over 10mm there is a small risk they can turn cancerous and like mine, some people’s do grow quite quickly! From my understanding they like to keep you on surveillance and rescan to check if it’s growing. Yours is only small so I guess you could decline, but I’d prefer to know they are keeping an eye on it! Hope this helps!

Guidance changes a lot, your consultant will be on the safe side, it used to be we would only have them referred to the surgeons if over 5mm then they decided they would scan all size polyps and now they're heading back to 5mm and over again.. but initial scans will allow them to decide how rapid yours are growing in size and amount. If they're not or slow growing after a few scans they may discharge you.. if they rapidly increase in size and amount they'll offer to take it out as that's not a good sign.
id be happy with a cautious consultant. It's only a quick scan twice a year.. no biggy and not invasive at all, at worse you'll need to fast for a few hours prior to the scan!

U know what it is I’m just scared of the unknown. If it grows does it definitely mean cancer is growing do you know?

how come you didn’t have 6 monthly?

I’m not sure really… my NHS trust only offered 12 monthly. Also just because it can grow does not mean it will turn cancerous. I’ve been told that’s actually quite rare, there’s just a higher risk once over 10mm.

So how do u know if it’s malignant or not?

You don’t yet, but that fact that’s it’s not changed in 6 months means it’s highly likely yours isn’t. Same as a previous poster, our guidance has changed a few times and it’s been different again in other Trusts I’ve worked in

Oh ok why do they keep changing it? Do you know?

The same as any protocol is changed, new research, new consultant wants something different, there isn’t an agreed standard way to do things so different departments choose to do things different ways

They say it’s incidental when they find it… so I could have had this same size polyp for years… ? I guess I won’t know..they only found it because I had oc in pregnancy…4 times. So needed ultrasound to check my liver is ok.
so other people could have this? And would not know.. so that in it self the nhs should bring in gallbladder screening?

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34918177/

Here are the current guidelines - you only need follow up if you are in the high risk category.

. 6. If the patient has no risk factors for malignancy, and a gallbladder polypoid lesion of 5 mm or less, follow-up is not required. Strong recommendation, moderate-
that’s what it says…but
mine is 3.1mm and still the same 6 months later… but gp texted this.

I have reviewed the guidelines with the result of your recent ultrasound scan, based on these the guidance is that you do require a further scan in another 6 months and then another at 2years from the original. I will request the one for another 6 months time and the hospital will send you an appointment in due course. The polyp doesn't really seem to have changed but the guidance still recommends monitoring.

Dr C Fasey

The guidelines changes fairly recently so they may be using the old ones, which would have had you needing a further scan. If you have no risk factors then a single scan is all that is recommended now. Why don’t you ask the GP?

I have been trying to ask the gp since yesterday. And that’s the response I received a text.. hence why im on here…
You know I thought it was not right because it’s actually causing distress and anxiety having another scan… but at the same time if it had grown I would be happy having the scans because there is a reason for it. Where as my polyp is the same size I have no risk factors I’m 42 fit and healthy…
but will be trying to see the gp again tomorrow to get solid answers just to put things in perspective and to make sense to me which then some how will put my mind at ease…..

No I don’t think they should screen gallbladders (not that anyone will be asking my opinion, I’m certainly no expert). They’re usually incidental, overwhelmingly likely to be benign, particularly when not coupled with symptoms, what would be the point of a screening programme?

The reason why I say screening is that what if I had not gone for my liver scan what if I had not got pregnant and then I would not of had the oc.. then I would not have been offered the liver ultrasound and would not known about the polyp. and they would not keep an eye on me. so I wouldn’t of known….

But you don’t need to know if it’s incidental. Screening programmes are to find anomalies which need treatment. Think of pregnancy screening, cervical smears, breast cancer screening etc. And the screening has to find a proportion of anomalies enough to make it worthwhile. All scan will tell you is that you have one, which in the vast majority of cases, is about as interesting as telling someone they have a mole

Yea I understand that does make sense. So basically it’s the same as keeping an eye on a mole?
so I have more chance of developing breast cancer than this polyp?

Erm. I honestly don’t know the specifics on that, but isn’t it about 1/9 women get breast cancer? I didn’t know any stats at all on gallbladder polyp cancers so I’ve just done a quick Google. Apparently 4-7% of the population have polyps, and 95% of them are benign. So sadly yes, a far higher chance of breast cancer.
And yes to just keeping an eye on it. There’s lots of incidental findings that we keep an eye on, if they don’t grow you can forget about them.

My 20 year old daughter has FAP and hundreds of polyps in her colon. They are quite large and multiplying. She’s supposed to have a colonoscopy in a couple of weeks before having her colon removed but now has other health issues that might affect this. It’s such a headache