Your gallbladder is a small sac-like organ located on the righthand side of your body beneath your liver. Its main purpose is to store bile produced by the liver to aid in the digestive process, but sometimes the dispersion of this bile fluid is inhibited by the formation of tiny deposits called gallstones. Today, we take a look at how and why gallstones form, and we explain how they are treated.
Gallstone Formation
A gallstone is essentially a hardened stone or lump that develops in the gallbladder or bile duct when substances solidify. Some of the most common chemicals that exist in the gallbladder that lead to the formation of these stones include:
- Calcium
- Cholesterol
- Bilirubinate
- Calcium carbonate
When these substances solidify, they can either form one large stone or several smaller stones, and they can be extremely problematic. Imagine drinking a glass of water out of a straw. Now imagine that there’s a marble inside the straw. Water can’t fully flow through the straw due to the blockage. That’s the same process going on when a gallstone forms, only the inability to pass bile can have more serious consequences. According to a recent report, approximately 20 million Americans are currently dealing with gallstones.
Types Of Gallstones
There are two main types of gallstones that develop in your gallbladder and bile ducts. They are:
- Cholesterol Gallstones – These are the main type of gallstones that develop, and as you can probably guess, are the result of too much cholesterol in the bile.
- Pigment Gallstones – These tend to form when the bile has too much bilirubin. They are more likely to form in patients who have liver disease, a bile duct infection, blood disorders or sickle-cell anemia.
Causes and Treatment of Gallstones
Gallstones are caused by a chemical imbalance in the gallbladder, but a number of factors contribute to this imbalance, such as obesity, diabetes, genetics, old age and having a diet that’s high in fat.
Treatments for gallstones vary based on their size, chemical compound and their likelihood of recurrence. For many, and because the gallbladder is a non-essential organ (as bile can flow straight from the liver instead of from the gallbaldder) a cholecystectomy operation to remove the gallbladder helps solve the problem.
In rarer cases, a patient may opt for either ursodeoxygenic acid treatment, ERCP treatment or a lithotripsy. Ursodeogenic acid treatment involves dissolving certain types of gallstones with a form of acid over a period of many months. This is generally only pursued if surgery is not an option and the gallstone is made of the right compounds. ERCP treatment involves putting a tiny fiberoptic camera into the patient via their mouth and navigating it to the gallbladder. Once in position, an electrically heated wire widens the opening of the bile duct and the stone are removed of left to pass into the intestine. The final treatment called a lithotripsy procedure involves sending ultrasonic shockwaves to break up the stones and allow them to safely pass, but this is really only an option if a patient has a few tiny gallstones.
