Are you clear about which benefits and side effects matter most to you? Do you have enough support and advice from others to make a choice? Author: Healthwise Staff. Medical Review: E. This information does not replace the advice of a doctor. Healthwise, Incorporated disclaims any warranty or liability for your use of this information. Your use of this information means that you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Learn how we develop our content. To learn more about Healthwise, visit Healthwise. Healthwise, Healthwise for every health decision, and the Healthwise logo are trademarks of Healthwise, Incorporated. Get the facts. Your options Have surgery to remove your gallbladder.
Don't have surgery. Wait and see if you have another attack. Key points to remember If you feel comfortable managing mild and infrequent gallstone attacks, and if your doctor thinks that you aren't likely to have serious complications, it's okay not to have surgery. Most doctors recommend surgery if you have had repeated attacks. If you have had one attack of gallstone pain, you may want to wait to see whether you have more. Surgery is the best way to prevent gallstone attacks. The surgery is very common, so doctors have a lot of experience with it.
Your body will work fine without a gallbladder. There may be small changes in how you digest food, but you probably won't notice them. What are gallstones? Symptoms usually don't come back after the gallbladder has been removed. What is the surgery to remove the gallbladder? Stones in the bile duct If gallstones are found in the common bile duct before or during surgery to remove the gallbladder, a doctor may do a procedure called an ERCP endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatogram.
What are the risks of gallbladder surgery? The most serious risks include: Infection. Injury to the common bile duct. Injury to the small intestine by one of the tools used during surgery. Risks from open gallbladder surgery include: Injury to the common bile duct.
Injuries to the liver, intestines, or major blood vessels in the belly. Blood clots or pneumonia related to the longer recovery period after open surgery. Post-cholecystectomy syndrome After gallbladder surgery cholecystectomy , a few people have ongoing symptoms, such as belly pain, bloating, gas, or diarrhea.
What are the risks of NOT having the gallbladder removed? The risks of not treating gallstones may include: Unpredictable attacks of gallstone pain. Episodes of inflammation or serious infection of the gallbladder, bile ducts, or pancreas. Jaundice and other symptoms caused by blockage of the common bile duct. If you decide against surgery, what can you do to prevent another attack?
You may be able to prevent gallstone attacks if you: Stay close to a healthy weight by eating a balanced diet and getting regular exercise.
Avoid rapid weight loss. When you lose weight by dieting and then you gain weight back again, you increase your risk of gallstones, especially if you are a woman. If you need to lose weight, do it slowly and sensibly.
Why might your doctor recommend gallbladder surgery? Your doctor may recommend surgery if: You have repeated gallstone attacks. The pain from the attacks is severe.
You have complications, such as inflammation of the gallbladder or the pancreas. That is until injury or gallbladder disease occurs. Surgery to remove the gallbladder is also known as cholecystectomy. It is sometimes done as open surgery, using a large incision. The most common type is laparoscopic surgery. This minimally invasive approach uses several small incisions. The gallbladder is a pear-shaped organ below the liver.
It stores bile, a fluid produced in the liver that helps the body digest fat. Bile is released through the common bile duct. This is a tube-like structure that connects the gallbladder and liver to the small intestine. But when it blocks the flow of bile through the ducts, it can cause problems. Most often, ducts are blocked by gallstones. Petyn says. Gallstones are small, pebble-like substances that form in the gallbladder.
The type of pain felt in the abdomen can vary greatly. Children may feel stomach pain for a range of reasons and may need treatment. Around half of cases of anal fissures heal by themselves with proper self-care and avoidance of constipation. Anyone of any age can be struck by appendicitis, but it seems to be more common during childhood and adolescence.
Barium tests are used to examine conditions of the digestive tract such as reflux, narrowing or ulceration. Content on this website is provided for information purposes only. Information about a therapy, service, product or treatment does not in any way endorse or support such therapy, service, product or treatment and is not intended to replace advice from your doctor or other registered health professional.
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Skip to main content. Gallbladder - gallstones and surgery. Actions for this page Listen Print. Summary Read the full fact sheet. On this page. Symptoms of gallstones Types of gallstones Causes and risk factors for gallstones Diagnosis of gallstones Complications of gallstones Treatment for gallstones Surgical removal of the gallbladder or gallstones Where to get help Things to remember.
Symptoms of gallstones In approximately 70 per cent of cases, gallstones cause no symptoms. The symptoms of gallstones may include: pain in the abdomen and back. Pain is generally infrequent, but severe increase in abdominal pain after eating a fatty meal jaundice fever and pain, if the gallbladder or bile duct becomes infected.
Types of gallstones There are three main types of gallstones being: mixed stones — the most common type. They are made up of cholesterol and salts. Mixed stones tend to develop in batches cholesterol stones — made up mainly of cholesterol, a fat-like substance that is crucial to many metabolic processes. Cholesterol stones can grow large enough to block bile ducts pigment stones — bile is greenish-brown in colour, due to particular pigments.
Gallstones made from bile pigment are usually small, but numerous. Causes and risk factors for gallstones Gallstones are more common in women than in men. Seventy-eight percent of those patients had their gallbladders removed within 30 days of their initial hospitalization, in keeping with accepted medical guidelines. Less than 10 percent of those patients returned to the hospital with pancreatitis.
Of the 3, patients who did not adhere to the guidelines, 1, had a cholecystectomy within six months. But the nearly 2, patients who did not have the surgery within 30 days had still not had it four years later.
Numerous studies have found that, in most cases, cholecystectomy prevents additional pancreatitis-related hospitalizations. The authors list a number of barriers that could prevent people suffering from the condition to comply with physician recommendations of gallbladder removal. Lack of resources, surgeon or patient preference , and inaccurate billing coding each could be a reason why a patient with biliary pancreatitis would not undergo cholecystectomy. But with nearly 80 percent of those patients undergoing the procedure, Kamal says the compliance numbers were unexpectedly high.
It is not clear why some noncompliant patients had recurrences and some did not. Hutfless cautions that more research is necessary before drawing any conclusions from the findings related to patients noncompliant with medical guidelines. For now, there is clear evidence that the guidelines are beneficial to patients and should be followed.
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