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Healthwise, Healthwise for every health decision, and the Healthwise logo are trademarks of Healthwise, Incorporated. It looks like your browser does not have JavaScript enabled. Please turn on JavaScript and try again. Important Phone Numbers. 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.
Why does my gallbladder need to be removed? This can cause symptoms such as: sudden and intense tummy pain feeling and being sick yellowing of the skin and the whites of the eyes jaundice Very occasionally it may be possible to take tablets to dissolve gallstones, but surgery to remove the gallbladder is the most effective treatment in the vast majority of cases.
What happens during gallbladder removal surgery There are 2 main ways of removing a gallbladder: laparoscopic keyhole cholecystectomy — several small cuts incisions are made in your tummy abdomen and fine surgical instruments are used to access and remove your gallbladder open cholecystectomy — a single larger incision is made in your tummy to access and remove your gallbladder Keyhole surgery is used most often because you can leave hospital sooner, recover faster and are left with smaller scars than with an open procedure.
Find out more about how gallbladder removal surgery is performed Recovering from gallbladder removal surgery It doesn't usually take long to recover from keyhole surgery to remove your gallbladder. Most people can leave hospital the same day or the next morning. You'll probably be able to return to most of your normal activities within 2 weeks. Find out more about recovering from gallbladder removal surgery Living without a gallbladder You can lead a perfectly normal life without a gallbladder.
Find out more about diet after gallbladder surgery Risks of gallbladder removal surgery Gallbladder removal surgery is considered to be a safe procedure, but, like any type of surgery, there's a risk of complications. However, it is a frequent problem that the symptoms persist or recur, which indicates that the underlying problem needs to be treated.
While common, this is not the only location, as the pain can occur anywhere in the abdominal region and often will feel like it is radiating around the back towards the right shoulder blade. Severe pain may be accompanied by nausea and vomiting. When a gallbladder issue is both painful and persistent, removing the gallbladder through surgery called a cholecystectomy is the recommended treatment. Your gallbladder is an organ that you can very easily live without.
Its function is to store bile that is used to aid in the digestion of certain foods. Even though a cholecystectomy is one of the safest and most common outpatient surgeries performed in this country, the decision for surgery is one that should only be made by someone who is qualified to actually perform the surgery. While a specialist like Dr. Though there are several problems that can affect the gallbladder, the most common by far is the formation of gallstones.
These are hard particles that are made of bile, cholesterol, calcium, and several other components which have a tendency to get lodged in the bile ducts, effectively blocking the passage of bile out of the gallbladder.
When this occurs it can cause severe pain. In reality, however, gallstones can cause symptoms anytime regardless of what your diet consists of.
This small, pear-shaped organ is located just below the liver. It stores small amounts of bile that are released into the small intestine after eating to aid in the digestion of fats. However, it can also become the source of painful and troublesome symptoms should it become inflamed or develop gallstones. The primary source of problems within the gallbladder, including inflammation, stem from the development of gallstones.
These hard deposits of digestive fluid can occur in the gallbladder itself or in the bile duct, and they can range in size from as tiny as a grain of sand to as big as a golf ball. Some patients may only develop a single gallstone, while others will have several. However, it is not the presence of gallstones but the complications they cause that may necessitate surgery. When these deposits develop and cause a blockage in the bile duct, the bile is unable to circulate out of the liver as normal, building up and resulting in painful inflammation in a condition known as cholecystitis.
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