Gallstones
What are gallstones?
Gallstones are small stones that form in your gallbladder. This is a little pouch that sits under your liver. It stores digestive juices that help your body break down food. Lots of people have gallstones.
In most people, gallstones don't cause any problems. But sometimes, they block the tubes that carry digestive juices. This
can give you pain in your abdomen. And it can cause more serious problems, too, like swelling of your gallbladder.
The good news is that the usual treatment for gallstones works. That treatment is an operation to take out your gallbladder.
- Gallstones are very common. By the age of 75, about 1 in 3 women and 1 in 5 men have them.
Source:
Ransohoff DF, Gracie WA.
Treatment of gallstones.
Annals of Internal Medicine. 1993; 119: 606-619.
1 - In most people, these stones don't cause any problems and don't need any treatment.
Source:
Beckingham IJ.
ABC of diseases of liver, pancreas, and biliary system: gallstone disease.
BMJ. 2001; 322: 91-94.
2 - If your gallstones do cause problems, the most likely symptom is pain in your abdomen. But you may have weeks or even years between pain attacks.
- Other conditions can cause the same symptoms as gallstones. So doctors use tests to help work out your diagnosis.
- If your gallstones cause problems, the usual treatment is an operation to take out your gallbladder.
Source:
Ransohoff DF, Gracie WA.
Treatment of gallstones.
Annals of Internal Medicine. 1993; 119: 606-619.
1 - There are different ways to do the operation. Most people have what is called keyhole surgery, which uses small cuts.
Your gallbladder is part of your digestive system.
Your gallbladder's job is to store bile. Bile is one of the digestive juices. Gall is the old name for bile.
Bile is a yellow-green liquid. It is made by your
liver. It flows through tubes, also known as ducts, into your bowel. That's where it goes to work, helping to break down food.
liver
Your liver is a large organ that sits on the right side of your body, just below your rib cage. It does several important things, including processing and storing nutrients from food, and breaking down chemicals, such as alcohol.
Your liver is a large organ that sits on the right side of your body, just below your rib cage. It does several important things, including processing and storing nutrients from food, and breaking down chemicals, such as alcohol.
Bile has lots of chemicals in it. One chemical is
cholesterol. This is a fatty substance. Another chemical is called bile acid. It helps break down fat in the food you eat.
cholesterol
Cholesterol is made by your liver or absorbed from food. It is used by your body to make bile acids (which help your intestines absorb nutrients) and steroid hormones (like testosterone or estrogen). Cholesterol is also an important part of cell membranes, which are the structures that surround cells. "Good cholesterol" is called HDL; "bad cholesterol" is LDL.
Cholesterol is made by your liver or absorbed from food. It is used by your body to make bile acids (which help your intestines absorb nutrients) and steroid hormones (like testosterone or estrogen). Cholesterol is also an important part of cell membranes, which are the structures that surround cells. "Good cholesterol" is called HDL; "bad cholesterol" is LDL.
Your liver makes bile all the time. But it only goes into your bowel when you eat or drink. The rest of the time, it is stored in your gallbladder. This is
a small, stretchy pouch that sits under your liver. Normally, your gallbladder holds about six teaspoons of bile.
When you eat or drink, your gallbladder squeezes bile out into a tube called the cystic duct. The bile flows down this tube into another one. That second tube is called the bile duct. It takes the bile to your bowel.
When your liver makes bile that is not needed right away, the bile flows up your cystic duct and into your gallbladder, for storage.
Sometimes, when bile is stored in your gallbladder, it gets very thick. Then it can get crystals in it. Usually, the crystals
are made of cholesterol from the bile. They can grow into gallstones.
Gallstones can be as small as a grain of sand or as big as a golf ball. And you may have just one big gallstone or hundreds
of small ones.
You may hear gallstones called cholelithiasis.
Lots of people have gallstones but don't know it. The stones don't cause any symptoms. In this case, doctors say you have
silent gallstones.
But sometimes the stones block the tubes that carry bile. This can cause symptoms such as pain in your abdomen and
fever. If this happens, doctors say you have symptomatic gallstones.
fever
If you have a fever, your body temperature is above 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit (37 degrees Celsius). With a fever you often get other symptoms, such as shivering, headache or sweating. A fever is usually caused by an infection.
If you have a fever, your body temperature is above 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit (37 degrees Celsius). With a fever you often get other symptoms, such as shivering, headache or sweating. A fever is usually caused by an infection.
The symptoms and problems gallstones cause depend on where they gets stuck and how long they stay stuck.
Gallstones can hurt a lot when they block tubes. Usually, this isn't serious. But sometimes the blockage does cause serious
problems like
inflammation (swelling) in your gallbladder.
inflammation
If your skin or some other part of your body becomes red, swollen, hot or sore, we say it is inflamed. It means that your body is trying to protect you from germs, from something in your body tissues that can hurt you (like a thorn or sliver), or from things that cause allergies (allergens). Inflammation is part of the way the body heals an infection or injury.
If your skin or some other part of your body becomes red, swollen, hot or sore, we say it is inflamed. It means that your body is trying to protect you from germs, from something in your body tissues that can hurt you (like a thorn or sliver), or from things that cause allergies (allergens). Inflammation is part of the way the body heals an infection or injury.
- You are over 40
- You are a woman
- You are from a background that gets gallstones more often than others
- You are
obesity
If your body stores more energy than you need for daily functioning, this can make you overweight. The excess energy is stored in your fat cells. If your weight goes above a certain level, doctors call this obesity. Obesity is considered a medical condition. The excess weight can be a strain on your bones and joints. And if you are obese, you're more likely to get other diseases. Doctors have developed a scale for telling how much excess weight you have. This measure, called the body mass index (BMI), depends on your height.obese (very overweight) - You are pregnant
- You have lost a lot of weight quickly
- You eat foods that have a lot of fat in them.
Source:
Everhart JE.
Gallstones.
In: National Digestive Diseases Data Working Group. Digestive Diseases in the United States: Epidemiology and Impact, National Institutes of Health, 1994.
Everhart JE.
Gallstones.
In: National Digestive Diseases Data Working Group. Digestive Diseases in the United States: Epidemiology and Impact, National Institutes of Health, 1994.
You may be able to do some things to lower your chances of getting gallstones. For more, see What can I do to lower my risk of gallstones?
Sources for the information on this page:
- Ransohoff DF, Gracie WA.Treatment of gallstones.Annals of Internal Medicine. 1993; 119: 606-619.
- Beckingham IJ.ABC of diseases of liver, pancreas, and biliary system: gallstone disease.BMJ. 2001; 322: 91-94.
- Everhart JE.Gallstones.In: National Digestive Diseases Data Working Group. Digestive Diseases in the United States: Epidemiology and Impact, National Institutes of Health, 1994.
This information was last updated on May 12, 2009
This information is for educational use only, and is not a substitute for prompt professional medical advice. Readers should always consult a physician or other professional for advice and treatment.
© BMJ Publishing Group Limited 2010. All rights reserved.
© BMJ Publishing Group Limited 2010. All rights reserved.
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