Gallstones Overview

Gallbladder is the organ for storage of bile and it is situated in the vicinity of liver and pancreas. Sometimes, some particular ingredients of bile crystallize to form a hard and pebble like substance, known as gallstone, which may be small grain size or as big as a golf ball. Most gallstones are formed by cholesterol and some out of bilirubin. Sometimes, there may be numerous small grains with or without a large stone. Usually, the formation of gallstones goes unnoticed and without complain before it aggravates to a painful ailment.

Persons with liver cirrhosis or obesity or persons more than 60 years of age are more susceptible to this ailment. Gallstones are found more in women and more rampant with some particular ethnic groups. Persons who undergo prolonged fasting, diabetic patients, persons taking cholesterol reducing medicines and persons with family history of gallstone are also more likely to develop stones in gallbladder.

Sometimes, gallstones move into the bile duct creating blockage and resulting in gall bladder infection and inflammation, causing pain in the right side of the belly, nausea and fever. At times, pain is sudden and violent. The pain may be for a short time only and may vanish after the stone moves, but negligence of the gallstone complain may cause the gallbladder to burst and other complications. The problem is always internal and there are no external, physical manifestations of the disease.

It is believed that imbalance in any of the ingredients of bile, such as cholesterol, bilurbin or bile salt, gives rise to stone formation. But why this imbalance occurs has not yet been fully understood. It is always advisable to consult your physician and go for a test as soon as symptoms of gallstone are suspected. Usually, the gallstones which never lead to any complaint are known as silent stones and do not invite any treatment. Gallstones are usually detected by an ultra sound test.

Gallstones, once detected, are usually treated surgically. The method used for this is called laparoscopy which is made by small incisions inside belly in the exact location of the gall bladder by means of a miniature video camera and removing the entire gall bladder. Removal of gall bladder does not affect normal functioning of the body except in extremely rare cases, when it may cause temporary problems. The patient usually stays one day in the hospital and normal activity can start within a few days. Sometimes, if there is severe inflammation of the gallbladder, which may be detected either at the time of laparoscopic surgery or earlier, open surgery is resorted to. In this case, it requires a stay of 4 to 5 days in the hospital and several weeks at home to resume normal activities.

However, if there are other complications and it is risky to undertake surgery, treatment by medicine is carried out only in case of gallstones formed by cholesterol. Oral drug treatment may be prescribed which may take months to dissolve the stone. In some cases, the drug is injected directly in the spot to dissolve the stone in 2 to 3 days. However, the latter course of action has other complications and is performed only in case of small stones.