Gall Bladder Disease :Treatment, Procedure, Cost And Side Effects
Last Updated: Nov 15, 2024
What is Gall Bladder Disease and its treatment ?
The Gallbladder diseases are of many types and based on their severity and symptoms, a particular treatment or procedure is chosen. The gallbladder is a pear-shaped sac that is located below the liver. It has the function to store the bile produced by the liver and pass it through a duct into the small intestine. One of the main reasons of any type of gallbladder disease or condition is the inflammation that happens due to irritation on the walls of gallbladder that is known as Cholecystitis. Now, there are different types of gallbladder diseases such as Gallstones, Cholecystitis that is further acute and chronic, Choledocholithiasis, gallbladder cancer and many more. However, some of the main important treatment methods include lifestyle changes, medical treatment as well as surgery, based on what exactly is the disease. For example, for problems such as increased risk of gallstone formation, it is important to change certain critical lifestyle habits to fight the same. Like being obese or having high sugar level or diabetes might lead to the formation of gallstone that can be treated by having a healthy diet and controlled intake of sugar, walking and exercising and much more. On the other hand, for the problem such as gallbladder inflammation, one of the initial step for treatment is providing pain medications due to severe pain as well as codeine or hydrocodone medicines can also be prescribed. Similarly, for conditions where the gallbladder is creating so much severe problem that, it has to be removed then, surgery is done. The surgery is in fact the most effective treatment method or procedure for any gallbladder disease.
How is the treatment done ?
The treatment of the gallbladder disease starts from the diagnosis of the disease through the encounter and inspection of several symptoms involved, followed by a chest and abdominal X-ray, an Ultrasound, HIDA scan and other test like CT scan, MRI etc. All these are done to get the appropriate results that will guide the choice of option for the procedure as well tell about the severity of the disease, complications involved and the stage or the phase of the disease. The treatment options include:
- Medication: The medications that are used for treating the disease includes prescribing anti-inflammatory medications, strong pain-relief medications like morphine, over the counter medications like Advil, naproxen, that would not be used much often as it might lead to nausea and vomiting.
- Surgery: Surgery is carried out by either by opening the entire abdomen with incision or through the way of laparoscopy. In the laparoscopy method, there are certain poke holes that are made through the walls of the abdomen and a camera is inserted through it. It is a method that is for people who do not have that severe of a gallbladder disease. So any of the methods of surgery are used to treat the disease.
Who is eligible for the treatment of Gall Bladder Disease?
The gallbladder disease mainly occurs due to inflammation of gall bladder, excessive alcohol use, infections as well as due to formation of tumors. In addition, due to defect in certain proteins, there could be an increased risk of gall bladder disease. However, some of the main symptoms that define a person’s status of eligible for the treatment or not are severe pain on the upper right or central abdomen, tenderness of the abdomen, pain after eating, fever, nausea and vomiting. In addition, a loss of appetite, jaundice, diarrhoea and many such symptoms are also an indication for a contracted gallbladder. Apart from this, anybody who is diagnosed with a stone in the gall bladder should be advised to be treated with the procedure.
Who is not eligible for the treatment?
The people who are not eligible for the gallbladder treatment, more specifically the surgery are the ones who can be treated with medications only as well as with certain few lifestyle changes. In addition, people who have significant complications regarding their bladder can also not go through the surgery as it might lead to further adverse consequences. People with certain other complicated or severe medical conditions are also not advised to go through the surgery and instead look for medications for relief. Thus, these people are not eligible or are advised not to go for the gall bladder surgery whereas there is not a significant segregation of factors for the same but the present complications, medical conditions and personal preference is the only points to affect the adoption of the treatment.
Are there any side effects?
For the medication-oriented treatment of gall bladder, one of the complications comes with the Advil and Naproxen that should not be taken too often as it increases the problem of nausea as well as vomiting. There is also diarrhoea or loose stools that is experienced as a side effect after the gall bladder surgery. Also, certain long term complications or problems regarding the surgery includes inflammation and scarring, obstruction of intestine, perforation etc. there can also be chances of bile leakage, injuries to surrounding area like the liver, intestine or so, blood clots etc.If any complications are there or any side effect becomes too severe to handle then they should get to the physician as soon as possible to prevent the problem to get bigger and severe.
What are the post-treatment guidelines?
After the treatment for the gall bladder disease is completed, it is accompanied with certain dietary changes as well as certain medications that helps to dissolve the existing gallstones as well as prevents the development of any more of them. Once the procedure is done, the patient can go home the same day but they should not have any big complications. The full recovery might take a week or so and the patient can gradually return to their normal day structure. Dietary and other side effects like nausea do occur but will resolve, as the patient gets better. The food habits with restriction over the intake of certain food items needs to be followed to prevent further complications as well as recover faster.
How long does it take to recover?
The treatment recovery time varies from the patient condition to condition and differs from the mode of the treatment opted for the patient. It generally takes about a week or so to recover fully once the surgery is over, however with certain complications, the patient is advised to stay at the hospital under observation for a longer period of time followed by a little more time to recover fully. The treatment recovery time varies from the patient condition to condition and differs from the mode of the treatment opted for the patient. However, with a preventive and better diet structure as well as appropriate amount of rest taken, the patient can recover faster and can gradually slip in to their normal day structure. If any complications are there or any side effect becomes too severe to handle then they should get to the physician as soon as possible to prevent the problem to get bigger and severe.
What is the price of the treatment in India?
For a cholecystectomy surgery that is the gall bladder removal surgery by cutting in through the abdomen or through the laparoscopic method in India, it is highly cost effective and successful to be undergone. In private hospitals as well as surgical centres in India, the cost is between 1 lakh INR to 5 lackh INR which is very cost effective, affordable and efficient at the same time. The cost covers the price of the procedure involved, surgeon fee, single room accommodation, medication in the hospital as well as diet of the patient.
Are the results of the treatment permanent?
The treatment is fairly permanent since with the removal of the gallbladder that is the main organ with stone in it, the whole chance of it getting another stone or problem is gone since the organ is not there any so apart from any other long term complication or side effect there is no chance of the same disease striking the patient again. Thus, the treatment is permanent and should be opted by anyone who is advised to and anybody who has a severe gall bladder disease.
What are the alternatives to the treatment?
The gall bladder treatment has no such significant alternative method or procedure to fight the medical condition, however depending on the types of gall bladder disease and their severity the procedure can deviate from advisory habit change treatment to medications to surgery from low to moderate to high severity respectively of the medical condition involved. And thus, due to the effectiveness, lack of alternative procedures and reasonable cost involved, the procedure is favoured by many and adopted as well with no regrets and full results that help them to recover from the disease much faster.
References
- Molina-Molina E, Shanmugam H, Wang DQ, Vergani L, Portincasa P. Physical Activity is Beneficial for Gallbladder Disease. Japanese Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology. 2019;1(1):1-4. [Cited 24 July 2019] Available from:
- Gurusamy KS, Davidson BR. Gallstone disease. Evidence-based Gastroenterology and Hepatology. 2019 Feb 13:342. [Cited 24 July 2019] Available from:
- Gallbladder Diseases- Medline Plus, Health Topics, NIH, U.S. National Library of Medicine [Internet]. medlineplus.gov 2019 [Cited 30 July 2019]. Available from:
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