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Gallstone Disease
Gallstone Disease
Gallstones do not cause symptoms. It is usually detected by ultrasound examination at the annual health check.
What is the gallbladder ?
The gallbladder is oval, resembling a pear. It is a sac-like organ that stores bile that is made up of the liver. Bile is a yellowish-brown enzyme produced by the liver to digest fatty foods. The location of the gallbladder is located under the rib cage on the right side. The gallbladder serves to store bile. and compressing to release bile through the gallbladder into the bile duct, which opens the duodenum to help further digestion
What is gallstones ?
Gallstones It occurs when the components of bile, especially cholesterol and bilirubin, occur. (The color pigment in bile produced by the breakdown of red blood cells) precipitates into crystals in the gallbladder. These stones may look like a grain of sand or as big as a golf ball. Inside the gallbladder, there can be one large gallstone, hundreds of small stones, or it can range from one to several hundred.
Gallstone symptoms:
- Asymptomatic gallstones: Generally, gallbladder stones do not cause symptoms. This is often accidentally detected by ultrasound examinations at annual health checks.
- Gallstones that cause complications: Caused by gallstones that block different areas of the biliary tract, the symptoms and severity of the disease can vary widely. according to the location of the blockage and the presence of infectious complications
- Abdominal pain from gallstones Caused by gallstones in the gallbladder temporarily blocking the gallbladder duct (cystic duct), causing patients to have symptoms of abdominal distension, flatulence, gas in the stomach (indigestion), abdominal pain under the epigastric region. or right ribcage, which may have pain in the back as well And sometimes the pain can be very intense.
- Cholecystitis: when gallstones have blocked the gallbladder ducts for some time. causing the gallbladder to become inflamed and infected causing the patient to have a fever with severe abdominal pain increases There is tenderness in the gallbladder.
- Jaundice/jaundice: when the gallstone passes from the gallbladder. through the gallbladder into the area of the large bile duct May cause obstruction of the bile duct. As a result, patients develop jaundice. The skin and whites of the eyes turn yellow and the patient often experiences abdominal pain.
- Cholangitis: if gallstones blocking the large bile duct lead to bile duct infection May cause very severe symptoms, including fever, colic pain, jaundice/jaundice, and chills caused by bloodstream infections. This can lead to death if not treated promptly.
- Pancreatitis: This is because the opening of the pancreatic duct into the duodenum is the same way as the bile duct opening. So if there are stones (Most of which are small gallstones) fall to obstruct the pancreatic duct. cause inflammation of the pancreas The patient will have severe abdominal pain in the epigastric region. and often ruptures to the back
Patients with any of these symptoms should see a specialist as soon as possible as more serious complications can occur.
Diagnosis and Hospitalization
- Generally, a specialist doctor will be consulted by performing an upper abdominal ultrasound. This is enough test to confirm that you have gallstones. or have cholecystitis or not, but in some cases, such as the detection of gallstones in the bile duct or diagnosis of pancreatitis Special radiological examinations such as computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging may be required.
- The usual step after diagnosis is to treat patients with symptoms of gallstones. Your doctor will consider surgery to remove the gallbladder to prevent other complications, including a recurrence of gallstone complications. Currently, the standard surgery for gallbladder surgery is laparoscopic surgery. Because the patient was less injured recover quickly By this method, the incision is small (5-1 cm). The surgery takes a short time (60-90 minutes), does not require a long recovery. Generally, the hospital stay is short (3 days 2 nights).
Return to normal
Your surgeon can advise when you can return to your normal activities.
Generally speaking After surgery with a small incision from endoscopic surgery You are able to:
- Eat your normal food right away – You can return to your normal diet, although before that you may have been advised to avoid certain foods before the surgery. You should also try to eat a nutritious and balanced diet for good health. (Read more about diet after gallbladder surgery.)
- Do light exercise like walking – but be careful not to exert yourself too much or too quickly. You should also seek advice from your surgeon or medical professional to return to more vigorous exercise.
Be able to drive again after a week or so, but first make sure you can fasten your seatbelt and practice emergency stops without any discomfort.
