Cholangiocarcinoma and Receiving Social Security Disability Benefits
The cells of your body are where cancer originates. This means that cancer forms in the basic building blocks of your body. This post goes into detail on bile duct cancer known as Cholangiocarcinoma. When your body is functioning properly, old cells die and are replaced by new cells at the right time. When things go wrong in your body, old cells do not die when they should, and new cells are made even though you do not need them. This results in an excessive amount of cells. A mass (tumor) can develop from these excess cells. The mass can be either benign or malignant. Benign tumors are not cancer. Malignant tumors are cancer. Cancer is far larger than one disease. It is an enormous category of diseases. Cancer is marked by cells that are invasive (they invade and destroy adjacent tissue), aggressive (they grow and divide without respect to normal limits) and sometimes metastatic (they spread to other parts of the body). There are many different forms of cancer. They are usually designated by where they begin in your body. For example, colon cancer starts in your colon. Liver cancer starts in your liver. Cancer may metastasize (spread) to other organs, but it is still referred to by where it originated in your body. Cancer is also grouped by the kind of cell that the tumor looks like. Some examples of this are lymphoma, germ cell tumor, sarcoma, blastic tumor and carcinoma. Cholangiocarcinoma starts in your bile duct. Your bile duct is a thin tube about 4 or 5 inches long. Your bile duct runs from your liver to your small intestine. The main job of your bile duct is to take fluid that is known as bile from your liver and gallbladder to your small intestine. This is where bile helps digest the fat in the foods that you eat. Somewhere between 2,000 and 3,000 people are diagnosed with cholangiocarcinoma each year in the United States. Even though cholangiocarcinoma may occur at younger ages, it is mainly a disease of senior citizens. The average age at which cholangiocarcinoma is diagnosed is 73.Risk Factors of Cholangiocarcinoma
The specific cause of bile duct cancer has not been discovered. However, there are several risk factors that may increase your likelihood of developing this disease. Some of these are:- ? A family history of cholangiocarcinoma
- ? Certain diseases of your liver or bile duct, such as ulcerative colitis or cirrhosis
- ? Aging
- ? Exposure to thorotrast, a radioactive substance that was used as a contrast agent for X-rays until the 1950s
- ? Liver fluke infections
- ? Obesity
Signs and Symptoms of Cholangiocarcinoma
It is also important for you to be aware that the signs and symptoms of cholangiocarcinoma are not unique to the disease. They can be indications of other conditions besides cholangiocarcinoma. Some of these signs and symptoms include:- ? Nausea and vomiting
- ? Fever
- ? Dark colored urine
- ? Unintended weight loss
- ? Abdominal pain
- ? Light colored stools
- ? Loss of appetite
- ? Itching
- ? Jaundice.