The gallbladder can be best described as a small pear shaped organ, roughly 3 to 4 inches long and about 1 inch wide), that is connected to the liver by the hepatic duct. The gall bladder stores and concentrates bile. The primary function of the gallbladder is to store bile and concentrate. Bile is a digestive liquid that is secreted by the liver continually. The bile neutralizes acids in partly digested food and it also emulsifies fats. The bile flows from the gallbladder into the cystic duct when the muscular valve in the common bile duct opens. It then falls from the gallbladder into the cystic duct, along the common bile duct, and into the duodenum, which is part of the small intestine. Gallstones are small, pebble like substances that develop in the gallbladder. Gallstones are created when liquid that is stored in the gallbladder hardens into pieces of rock like material. Gallstones can interrupt the normal flow of bile if they move from the gallbladder and settle in any of the ducts that carry bile from the liver to the small intestine. Gallstones are usually discovered during tests for other health issues. Gallstones attacks are very similar to those of heart attacks, appendicitis, ulcers, irritable bowel syndrome, hiatel hernia, pancreatitis, or hepatitis. This is why an accurate diagnosis is very important, and if the physician suspects that the cause of the patient’s complaints to be gallstones they are most likely to order an ultrasound examination. The physician may also order a CT scan, (computerized tomography), a HIDA SCAN, (Cholescintigraphy), an ERCP, (Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography), or Blood tests. There really is no way you can prevent gallstones from forming but you can lower your risk of developing gallstones if you:
Maintain your ideal body weight.
Maintain a healthy calorie diet.
Exercise regularly
Stick to a low fat, high fiber diet. If you are complaining of frequent gallbladder attacks to your physician, he will mostly like recommend that you have your gallbladder removed. This procedure is called a Cholecystectomy. A Cholecystectomy is performed with a laparoscopy and it is usually accomplished by day surgery.
“In the study, Dr. Taylor S. Riall, associate professor of surgery at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, and colleagues analyzed data on 29,818 Medicare beneficiaries hospitalized for a first episode of sudden inflammation of the gallbladder (acute cholecystitis). While 75 percent of the patients underwent surgical removal of the gallbladder (cholecystectomy), one-quarter did not. The in-hospital death rate for the patients who didn't undergo cholecystectomy was 2.7 percent, compared with 2.1 percent for the patients who had the surgery, the researchers found. The study also found that 38 percent of patients who didn't have their gallbladder removed had to be readmitted to hospital for treatment of gallstones within the next two years, compared with 4 percent of patients who underwent gallbladder removal. Those readmissions led to an average additional $14,000 in total charges and more than $7,000 in Medicare payments per readmission.
Among the other findings: * Twenty-seven percent of patients who didn't have their gallbladder removed during their initial hospital stay required subsequent gallbladder removal. * Patients who didn't undergo gallbladder removal during initial hospitalization were 56 percent more likely to die within two years than those who underwent gallbladder removal.” Yes, I would choose to have a cholecystectomy. This was a very good discussion board post for me because I actually underwent this surgery when I was five months pregnant. During my fifth month of pregnancy I started getting severe abdominal pain after eating. It felt like I was having a heart attack. The pain was unbearable. I went to the doctor and he said I had gallstones, and my gallbladder needed to be removed because the pain was putting an undue stress on the fetus. The factors that influenced me greatly were the amount of pain I was in, not to mention by unborn child. If my child had gallstones then, yes, I would elect to have the surgery done because it is a very basic procedure with little or no complications. I think that gallstones are more environmental than genetic based on my own experience. There is no member of my family that ever had a gallbladder attack. But I do know that when I was pregnant with my child I ate a lot of fatty foods and gained weight.
REFERENCES
Mama’s Health.com, P.O. Box 2170 Pasadena, CA 91102-2170 http://www.mamashealth.com/organs Natural Digestive Diseases Information Clearinghouse, (NDDIC), 2 Information Way, Bethesda, MD 20892 http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/about/index.htm North Shore Medical Center, 81 Highland Ave, Salem MA 01970
http://nsmc.partners.org/web/about_us/overview