Cholecystectomy - Know More About It!

Cholecystectomy is an operation performed to remove the gallbladder. The gallbladder is a kind of a small sac found just below the liver, on the right hand side of the abdomen. The gallbladder stores a liquid known as bile. Bile is made in the liver and it gets released into the intestine along with the meals. The importance of bile lies in the fact that it helps to digest the fat in foods.
As gallbladder is not really an essential organ, so a child would do well after cholecystectomy. Once the gallbladder gets removed through this pediatric surgery, bile will continue to get released from the liver right into the intestine along with meals.

What is the necessity behind cholecystectomy?
The necessity for performing this surgery of Cholecystectomy can be outlined as follows:

• The main reason behind the surgery is gallstones and pain.
• Gallstones are small rocks, which form inside the gallbladder
• These stones prevent the release of bile out from the gallbladder.
• This blockage results in pain as well as jaundice
• If a child comes across these problems, he or she would be recommended by his or her primary doctor to visit a paediatrician.
• A paediatrician can get rid of the gallstones by removing the gallbladder through performing the surgery if Cholecystectomy.

How is the surgery performed?
The surgery is performed in the following manner:

• A Cholecystectomy is performed on most of the occasions by way of laparoscopy.
• A small telescope and tiny instruments are placed through very small incisions made on the abdomen.
• The surgery normally gets completed within two hours.
• When a child gets hospitalized, he or she receives intravenous fluids, antibiotics as well as pain medication.
• As and when a child feels well, he/she would be allowed to eat, drink and also take pain relievers through mouth.
• Cholecystectomy surgery involves very less loss of blood. Only in a rare case, when there is an emergency, a child needs to receive blood.
• Children are released from hospital, one or two days after the surgery as and when they are able to eat, drink and be comfortable about themselves.

Homecare needed after the surgery
There are certain guidelines which parents must follow when their children get back home after the surgery. They include:

• Pain management: The pain medication prescribed by the paediatrician is not required at a routine basis after discharge from the hospital. Most of the children only require Acetaminophen (Tylenol) or Ibuprophen once they are at home.
• Healing ridge: Once the small incisions get healed, children would be able to feel a firm ridge just below it. It would last for few months, slowly get softened and then disappear.