Facts and Myths about Gall Bladder diseases

Hi, I’m Dr Nitin Shah. I’m a senior consultant at Fortis hospital, Noida. I’m a laparoscopic surgeon. I do all sorts of abdomen surgeries. Today we are going to be talking about the gallbladder disease, in which there are stones formed in the gallbladder. We need to understand that patients can initially be absolutely asymptomatic. The patient can have no pain or any discomfort. Many times it is detected by routine health examinations when the patient undergoes an ultra sound of the abdomen.

The initial stages after asymptomatic, the patient starts having little bloating in the abdomen which is commonly referred as gas and acidity. So people have a tendency of neglecting it and keep on taking some antacid or pantocid or Digene and this kind of stuff to suppress the symptoms. So after dyspepsia, the patient starts having pain in the abdomen. This pain can initially very simple pain. It can even progress into severe pain. It starts usually in the pre-gastric region, upper abdomen and goes to the back. This is very typical of a bilicuric and increases after any fatty meal like any extra oily friend. This kind of stuff when we eat, the patient has more pain and then depending on the severity of the inflammation, even patients are known to have pus in the gallbladder, thereby, increasing the mobility of the disease.

Some stones can slip from the gallbladder into the bile duct thereby obstructing the bile duct and producing something that is called obstructive jaundice. In which the patient has severe pain and has visible jaundice also. These stones not only block the bile duct but also can block the pancreas duct thereby causing something called as gall stone pancreatic. So, this is another very severe problem. As we all know, gall bladder cancer is quite common these days. In 4% of the cases, the gall stones are the causes of gallbladder cancer. So, for a simple disease like a gall bladder stone, if not treated at the immediate time this can land up into very very severe problems. now once the diagnosis is confirmed it is a simple surgery called as lap coly cystectomy in which we remove the gallbladder in very small three to four cuts that is called the laparoscopic surgery. The same surgery was previously done with a big cut that’s called the laparotomy, cutting open the whole abdomen and then removing the gall bladder. Now it is done by three or four small cuts. In fact, my specialization is getting the same surgery done by a single incision in the ablycus. In which there is one cut in the navel and no cut anywhere else in the abdomen and hence the surgical cut is hardly seen. Probably, even after two months, the surgeon will also not be able to make out whether any surgery is done on the patient or not. The scar is hardly seen and it is very cleverly hidden in the ablycus.

So, for any further information or any question that you want to ask I am available at lybrate.

You can log onto lybrate or even text me or video chat with me on lybrate and I will be more than happy to clear all your doubts regarding any surgical disease and help you in the best way I can.