“Are gallbladder polyps common?”
I had an ultrasound because my physician suspected that I had gallstones. We found gallbladder polyps instead. What is a gallbladder polyp and how common are they?
4 Answers
They are not too common but not super rare either. They are almost always benign growths (similar to colon polyps) and they are usually ignored unless they get bigger than 1 cm in diameter, in which case the gallbladder is removed.
They are benign tumors of the gall bladder which may need to be removed if the polyps are associated with gallstones or if they’re over a certain size.
Gallbladder polyps are fairly common and always benign. Once in a blue moon one will grow big enough to block the opening of the gallbladder and cause problems, but that's the worst thing I can think of.
Gallbladder polyps are relatively common. Estimated frequency in some studies is up to 6%-7%. More importantly, most gallbladder polyps are benign, but premalignant polyps can certainly convert into gallbladder cancer. Age above 50, and polyps larger than 1 cm are among the important risk factors for malignant transformation.
