Vietnam Vets And Bile Duct Cancer

Symptoms of bile duct cancer.

Vietnam vets and bile duct cancer. While most military personnel in southeast asia including vietnam ate canned meals or other meals provided by the military some veterans may have eaten raw or undercooked. This disease often goes undetected for long periods of time as symptoms do not appear for nearly 30 40 years in most cases. However currently va is not aware of any studies that show that bile duct cancer occurs more often in u s. The department of veterans affairs this spring commissioned a small pilot study to look into the link between liver flukes ingested through raw or undercooked fish and a rare bile duct cancer.

Veterans who ate raw or undercooked freshwater fish during their service in southeast asia such as vietnam war veterans might have been infected. This type of cancer is rare in the united states but much more common in southeast asia. While it is rare bile duct cancer becomes more common as people grow older. Vietnam war veterans than in other groups of people.

Bile duct cancer is a cancer of the biliary duct system which includes the gallbladder bile ducts and certain cells inside the liver. Veterans may have developed this cancer from exposure to liver flukes from eating raw or under cooked fish during their service.