Information On Gallstones With Treatment

Gallstones are the most common and costly digestive disease in the United States, causing more than 800,000 hospitalizations annually at estimated cost of over five billion dollars. More than 20 million Americans have gallstones and approximately one million new cases are diagnosed each year. Women are twice as likely as men to develop gallstones; the higher prevalence of gallstones in women is thought to be caused by multiple pregnancies, obesity, and rapid weight loss.

When gallstones are present in the gallbladder itself, it is called cholelithiasis. When gallstones are present in the bile ducts, it is called choledocholithiasis. Gallstones that obstruct bile ducts can lead to severe or life-threatening infection of the bile ducts, pancreas, or liver. Bile ducts can also be obstructed by cancer or trauma.


The disease cholelithiasis is disorders of the extrahepatic biliary tract are related to gallstones. Cholelithiasis are also known as Gallstones are formed within the gallbladder which is commonly affected Americans, women and old aged people that can be discovered by surgery, x-ray and autopsy and organ stores bile excreted from the liver. These cholelithiasis or gallstones are hard and presence in the gallbladder. Liver produces special liquid chemical called by bile and it may help digest fats.

Cholesterol gallstones are made primarily of cholesterol. They are the most common type of gallstone, comprising 80% of gallstones in individuals from Europe and the Americas. Cholesterol is one of the substances that liver cells secrete into bile. (Secretion of cholesterol into bile is an important way in which the liver eliminates excess cholesterol from the body.) In order for bile to carry cholesterol, the cholesterol must be dissolved in the bile.

Cholelithiasis also known is Gallbladder. Gallstones are concretions that form in the biliary tract, usually in the gallbladder. Gallstones are formed within the gallbladder, an organ that stores bile excreted from the liver. Further complications of gallbladder disease include gallstone pancreatitis, gallstone ileus, biliary cirrhosis, and gallbladder cancer. Gallstones may be as small as a grain of sand, or they may become as large as an inch in diameter, depending on how long they have been forming.

Gallstones are a common health problem worldwide. Gallstones can occur anywhere within the biliary tree, including the gallbladder and the common bile duct. Obstruction of the common bile duct is choledocholithiasis; obstruction of the biliary tree can cause jaundice; obstruction of the outlet of the pancreatic exocrine system can cause pancreatitis. Gallstones are rocklike collections of material that form inside the gallbladder. Different types exist, and they are categorized by their primary composition; cholesterol stones are most common (75-80% in the United States) followed by pigment, then mixed stones.

There are several available treatments for Cholelithiasis. Electrohydraulic shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL) has also been employed to treat cholelithiasis. Urodeoxycholic acid (UDCA, ursodiol), a more contemporary medical therapy, is successful in only 40% of cases. Both CDCA and UDCA therapies are useful only for gallstones formed from cholesterol. Surgery-Removal of the gallbladder, or cholecystectomy , is usually needed to treat symptoms associated with gallstones.

By: User name - Peter Hutch

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