Concepts On Gallbladder Surgery Queens NY Patients May Wish To Know

By Matthew Powell


The gall bladder is small organ in your body, just adjacent to the liver, whose function is to store a special juice referred to as bile produced by the liver. Bile is released whenever there is fat to be digested in the gut. The juices reach the intestines through channels that connect the liver, gall bladder, pancreas and bowel. In some instances, these ducts can get blocked resulting in a diseased sac that may require surgery. These are some of the basic principles of gallbladder surgery Queens NY patients may be interested in.

An individual is predisposed to gallstones if they are of the female gender, older than forty, overweight, or have had a similar experience in their lifetime. Gallstones can be pigmented or cholesterol in form with the majority being made up of cholesterol. They tend to get impacted in the gallbladder (being small sized organ) when the aforementioned risk factors are present.

Gallstones present as abdominal pain in the region where the bladder is located, that is the right upper quadrant of the abdomen. The pain is usually intermittent and may be associated with food intake. It usually is an intense pain that may last several hours. This happens when a stone is released from the gallbladder and gets lodged into one of the biliary ducts (transport channels). The stone travels back and forth due to peristaltic waves within the ducts hence the intermittency of the pain. The itensity of discomfort is directly proportional to the size and number of stones.

A patient with gallstones may also have a swollen abdomen, yellow discouration of the skin and regular bouts of vomiting. Clearly, such patients are very sick and should be closely observed. Dehydration can result in a reduction in body fluid volume and eventual compromise in blood supply to vital organs. It is therefore critical to replace any losses with the right amount of intravenous fluids. Their pain should be taken care of using the necessary pain medication.

Management of gallstones should be given the attention it deserves because negligence can lead to irreversible damage of critical organs in the body. The presence of stones triggers an inflammatory response that if left to go on without intervention, can result in spillage of bile once the gallbladder gets perforated.

The definitive treatment for gallstones is removal of stones together with the gallbladder to prevent recurrence. Removal of the gallbladder through an operation is referred to as cholecystectomy. Before performing a cholecystectomy, the doctor will view your gall bladder and the surrounding tissues through an imaging technique such as an ultrasound in order to study the diseased area. Just like any other form of operation, specific blood tests have to be carried to out to ensure the patient can tolerate the procedure.

The operation can either be laparoscopic or open depending on the resources available. Laparoscopy is, however, more preferred because it carries less risk given the fact that only small incisions are made, limited to the target area. Consequently, cosmetic results are better than if one goes for open surgery.

In summary, an operation is usually the primary treatment of gallstones. In this case, the risk of recurrence is almost zero if the surgery is done in a proper manner. The only time in which medical treatment can be the mainstay is if the condition does not interfere with the day to day life of the individual.




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