When to Seek Urgent Care
Go to an emergency department for severe or persistent upper abdominal pain, especially with vomiting, fever, shivering, jaundice or pain spreading to the back. These symptoms may mean an inflamed gallbladder, a blocked bile duct or pancreatitis.
Understanding the Condition
Gallstones are solid deposits in the gallbladder, a small organ beneath the liver that stores bile. A stone can block the gallbladder outlet or the main bile duct. This may cause pain beneath the right ribs or in the upper middle abdomen, often with nausea or vomiting.
Stones found by chance may never cause trouble. Bloating or indigestion alone does not prove that gallstones are the cause, so the symptom pattern matters before an operation is advised.
How It Is Assessed
Assessment usually includes an ultrasound scan and liver blood tests. A special MRI scan called MRCP may be needed if a bile-duct stone is suspected. The surgeon also reviews your pain pattern, previous attacks, other illnesses and earlier abdominal operations.
When Is Surgery Considered?
Laparoscopic gallbladder removal is usually recommended when stones cause typical pain or complications. Acute gallbladder inflammation often requires hospital treatment and, when the patient is fit, surgery during the same admission. Stones in the main bile duct generally require clearance even if they have not caused pain.
Gallstones that cause no symptoms and lie only within a normal gallbladder usually do not need an operation. Diet changes may reduce attacks while treatment is planned, but they do not remove the stones.
Surgery and Important Risks
Laparoscopic cholecystectomy removes the gallbladder through small abdominal incisions under general anaesthesia. The gallbladder is removed rather than taking out the stones alone. If inflammation or anatomy makes keyhole surgery unsafe, a larger open incision may be needed.
A bile-duct stone can be cleared during surgery or by an endoscopic procedure called ERCP. Risks of gallbladder surgery include bleeding, infection, blood clots, bile leakage, retained stones and injury to the bile duct, bowel or nearby organs. Your own risk depends on inflammation, previous surgery and general health.
Recovery and Follow-up
After an uncomplicated planned keyhole operation, many patients go home the same day or after one night. Walking and light activity start early. Desk work may be possible within one to two weeks; manual work and open surgery usually need longer.
You can live normally without a gallbladder. Small meals may feel easier at first, and persistent diarrhoea or digestive symptoms should be reviewed. Seek prompt advice after surgery for worsening pain, fever, jaundice, vomiting, breathlessness or wound discharge.