Free Essay

Gallbladder

In: Science

Submitted By carinoanne
Words 795
Pages 4
The gallbladder can be best described as a small pear shaped organ, roughly 3 to 4 inches long and about 1 inch wide), that is connected to the liver by the hepatic duct. The gall bladder stores and concentrates bile. The primary function of the gallbladder is to store bile and concentrate. Bile is a digestive liquid that is secreted by the liver continually. The bile neutralizes acids in partly digested food and it also emulsifies fats. The bile flows from the gallbladder into the cystic duct when the muscular valve in the common bile duct opens. It then falls from the gallbladder into the cystic duct, along the common bile duct, and into the duodenum, which is part of the small intestine. Gallstones are small, pebble like substances that develop in the gallbladder. Gallstones are created when liquid that is stored in the gallbladder hardens into pieces of rock like material. Gallstones can interrupt the normal flow of bile if they move from the gallbladder and settle in any of the ducts that carry bile from the liver to the small intestine. Gallstones are usually discovered during tests for other health issues. Gallstones attacks are very similar to those of heart attacks, appendicitis, ulcers, irritable bowel syndrome, hiatel hernia, pancreatitis, or hepatitis. This is why an accurate diagnosis is very important, and if the physician suspects that the cause of the patient’s complaints to be gallstones they are most likely to order an ultrasound examination. The physician may also order a CT scan, (computerized tomography), a HIDA SCAN, (Cholescintigraphy), an ERCP, (Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography), or Blood tests. There really is no way you can prevent gallstones from forming but you can lower your risk of developing gallstones if you:
Maintain your ideal body weight.
Maintain a healthy calorie diet.
Exercise regularly
Stick to a low fat, high fiber diet. If you are complaining of frequent gallbladder attacks to your physician, he will mostly like recommend that you have your gallbladder removed. This procedure is called a Cholecystectomy. A Cholecystectomy is performed with a laparoscopy and it is usually accomplished by day surgery.
“In the study, Dr. Taylor S. Riall, associate professor of surgery at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, and colleagues analyzed data on 29,818 Medicare beneficiaries hospitalized for a first episode of sudden inflammation of the gallbladder (acute cholecystitis). While 75 percent of the patients underwent surgical removal of the gallbladder (cholecystectomy), one-quarter did not. The in-hospital death rate for the patients who didn't undergo cholecystectomy was 2.7 percent, compared with 2.1 percent for the patients who had the surgery, the researchers found. The study also found that 38 percent of patients who didn't have their gallbladder removed had to be readmitted to hospital for treatment of gallstones within the next two years, compared with 4 percent of patients who underwent gallbladder removal. Those readmissions led to an average additional $14,000 in total charges and more than $7,000 in Medicare payments per readmission.
Among the other findings: * Twenty-seven percent of patients who didn't have their gallbladder removed during their initial hospital stay required subsequent gallbladder removal. * Patients who didn't undergo gallbladder removal during initial hospitalization were 56 percent more likely to die within two years than those who underwent gallbladder removal.” Yes, I would choose to have a cholecystectomy. This was a very good discussion board post for me because I actually underwent this surgery when I was five months pregnant. During my fifth month of pregnancy I started getting severe abdominal pain after eating. It felt like I was having a heart attack. The pain was unbearable. I went to the doctor and he said I had gallstones, and my gallbladder needed to be removed because the pain was putting an undue stress on the fetus. The factors that influenced me greatly were the amount of pain I was in, not to mention by unborn child. If my child had gallstones then, yes, I would elect to have the surgery done because it is a very basic procedure with little or no complications. I think that gallstones are more environmental than genetic based on my own experience. There is no member of my family that ever had a gallbladder attack. But I do know that when I was pregnant with my child I ate a lot of fatty foods and gained weight.
REFERENCES
Mama’s Health.com, P.O. Box 2170 Pasadena, CA 91102-2170 http://www.mamashealth.com/organs Natural Digestive Diseases Information Clearinghouse, (NDDIC), 2 Information Way, Bethesda, MD 20892 http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/about/index.htm North Shore Medical Center, 81 Highland Ave, Salem MA 01970
http://nsmc.partners.org/web/about_us/overview

Similar Documents

Free Essay

Gallbladder

...Gallbladder Disease The gallbladder is a sac located under the liver. It stores and concentrates bile produced in the liver. Bile aids in the digestion of fats, and is released from the gallbladder into the upper small intestine (duodenum) in response to food, especially fats. In the intestine, bile emulsifies fat, which prepares it for digestion, and then carries it into the cells so it can continue to be metabolized. The function of the gallbladder can be slowed or stopped by disease of this organ. Dr. Hoffman states “Gallbladder disease is a modern illness, with an estimated twenty million Americans have gallbladder disease” (1). With so many Americans affected by this disease let’s take a look at the contributing risk factors associated with gallbladder disease. The cause and contributing risk factors for the development of gallbladder disease are as follows by Dr. Hoffman (1): • Heredity. Gallstones occur slightly more frequently in Mexican Americans and Native Americans but also common in people of northern European stock. • Age. Gallbladder disease often strikes people over sixty years of age. • Gender. In medical school, the “five F’s” help doctors to remember the usual patient with gallbladder disease: fair, fat, forty, fertile, and female. Sexist as it sounds, it describes the group most frequently affected by gallbladder disease: overweight middle-aged white women with a history of several pregnancies. Excess estrogen may be implicated, since hormone replacement...

Words: 1093 - Pages: 5

Free Essay

Chole

...I. INTRODUCTION A. OVERVIEW Gallstones are collection of one or more stones in the gallbladder, which is the hollow organ under the liver that stores bile. Cholecystolithiasis is the fifth leading cause of hospitalization among adults. The disease may also be occurring in persons who are obese, who have high cholesterol, or who are on cholesterol lowering drugs. In most cases, gallbladder and bile duct diseases occur during middle age. Between ages 20 and 50, they're six times more common in women, but incidence in men and women becomes equal after age 50. Incidence rises with each succeeding decade. Diseases of the gallbladder and biliary tract are common and painful conditions that may be life threatening and mostly require surgery. They are generally associated with deposition of calculi and inflammation. B. CLIENT CENTERED Patient R.D. is a 24 year old female, was admitted at Candelaria District Hospital on 17th of August, 2011 with a reported history of recurring right upper quadrant pain for the past 4 months and complaining of severe RUQ abdominal pain that radiates to her back. She nauseated and has had a few episodes of vomiting at home. The pain is less intensed if she walks around bent forward. An ultrasound revealed stones in the gallbladder. She was admitted for the gallbladder stone removal. C. STUDENT CENTERED We, group 2, students of Columban College would like to thank Candelaria District Hospital, and also our Clinical...

Words: 3611 - Pages: 15

Free Essay

Solving a Problem

...Describe each stage in the creative process using Ch. 5 of your text. Search for a personal challenge. Explain how you used the techniques to develop curiosity in your search (see Ch. 6). The first stage in the creative process consists of constantly looking for a challenge or an opportunity to enhance existing problems or issues. These issues may be hardly noticeable or completely obvious, but it is each person’s responsibility to seek them out. The second stage is expressing the problem or issue in as many ways as possible and decide which expression or expressions are the best and will create the most ideas. The more expressions considered will allow the creation of ideas from multiple perspectives. The third stage is to research the problem or issue and gather data needed to deal with the issue effectively. This may be simply reviewing personal observations or previous experiences for information that relate to the challenge. It can be more in-depth in other situations and may require research, interviewing experts, or creating additional experiences and observations to gather new data. In the last stage the generation of ideas occurs. Creating a multitude of various ideas is important and too often one will quit prematurely or limit ideas. The longer one attempts to develop ideas the more likely a worthwhile idea will develop. Evaluate which idea or ideas best illuminates the problem then tentatively decide which idea or ideas best resolves the issue (Ruggiero, Vincent...

Words: 1499 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Gallbladder Cancer

...The gallbladder is an organ that is a part of the digestive system and is located in the upper right quadrant under the liver. The pear-shaped organ is a hollow sac that stores the digestive element bile, which is produced by the liver. Bile moves from the liver into the gallbladder for storage. When food is eaten, the gallbladder contracts and pushes the stored bile into the cystic duct and down the common bile duct into the duodenum of the small intestine where bile will help to break down food. Typical symptoms of gallbladder conditions include epigastric pain, abdominal pain, right upper quadrant pain, and/or pain that radiates around the right rib cage and into the back. Some people with gallbladder conditions may have no symptoms or problems at all. However, in some cases, gallbladder conditions can result in serious, even life-threatening complications, such as pancreatitis, biliary cirrhosis, and jaundice. The most common complication of the gallbladder however is cholecystitis. Which is a condition when calcifications and stones build up in the gallbladder lumen potentially causing blockage at any point in the biliary tree. The rarest condition is carcinoma of the Gallbladder. Gallbladder cancer is known to be most common in women and in people who have had a history of gallstones or other gallbladder conditions. Early gallbladder cancer often causes no symptoms and is usually discovered unexpectedly when someone has surgery to remove gallstones. About 1 in 5 gallbladder...

Words: 600 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Gallbladder Cancer

...The gallbladder is an organ that is a part of the digestive system and is located in the upper right quadrant under the liver. The pear-shaped organ is a hollow sac that stores the digestive element bile, which is produced by the liver. Bile moves from the liver into the gallbladder for storage. When food is eaten, the gallbladder contracts and pushes the stored bile into the cystic duct and down the common bile duct into the duodenum of the small intestine where bile will help to break down food. Typical symptoms of gallbladder conditions include epigastric pain, abdominal pain, right upper quadrant pain, and/or pain that radiates around the right rib cage and into the back. Some people with gallbladder conditions may have no symptoms or problems at all. However, in some cases, gallbladder conditions can result in serious, even life-threatening complications, such as pancreatitis, biliary cirrhosis, and jaundice. The most common complication of the gallbladder however is cholecystitis. Which is a condition when calcifications and stones build up in the gallbladder lumen potentially causing blockage at any point in the biliary tree. The rarest condition is carcinoma of the Gallbladder. Gallbladder cancer is known to be most common in women and in people who have had a history of gallstones or other gallbladder conditions. Early gallbladder cancer often causes no symptoms and is usually discovered unexpectedly when someone has surgery to remove gallstones. About 1 in 5 gallbladder...

Words: 600 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Gallbladder Essay

...Ultrasound Features The appearance of normal gallbladder wall on sonography is such as pencil-thin echogenic line. The gallbladder wall thickness depends on the distention of gallbladder and allows the pseudo-thickening in the postprandial state (Figure 4). The characteristic of gallbladder is in saccular structure and it have a thin wall (<3mm) which filled with anechoic fluid (Figure 5). The size of gallbladder is variable by depend on status of fasting. Usually, the gallbladder is scanned in the right upper quadrant which longitudinal in an oblique orientation (Adriaan C. et al. 2013). Figure 4: The left image show the normal gallbladder after overnight fast and the wall is appearing as a pencil-thin echogenic line (arrow). The right image shows the pseudo-thickening of the gallbladder in the postprandial state (arrow) (Ultrasoundpaedia, 2012)...

Words: 385 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Gallbladder Cancer

...The gallbladder is an organ that is a part of the digestive system and is located in the upper right quadrant under the liver. The pear-shaped organ is a hollow sac that stores the digestive element bile, which is produced by the liver. Bile moves from the liver into the gallbladder for storage. When food is eaten, the gallbladder contracts and pushes the stored bile into the cystic duct and down the common bile duct into the duodenum of the small intestine where bile will help to break down food. Typical symptoms of gallbladder conditions include epigastric pain, abdominal pain, right upper quadrant pain, and/or pain that radiates around the right rib cage and into the back. Some people with gallbladder conditions may have no symptoms or problems at all. However, in some cases, gallbladder conditions can result in serious, even life-threatening complications, such as pancreatitis, biliary cirrhosis, and jaundice. The most common complication of the gallbladder however is cholecystitis. Which is a condition when calcifications and stones build up in the gallbladder lumen potentially causing blockage at any point in the biliary tree. The rarest condition is carcinoma of the Gallbladder. Gallbladder cancer is known to be most common in women and in people who have had a history of gallstones or other gallbladder conditions. Early gallbladder cancer often causes no symptoms and is usually discovered unexpectedly when someone has surgery to remove gallstones. About 1 in...

Words: 328 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Gallbladder Case Summary

...patient was a 34-year-old female. She first came to the doctor with complaints of bloating, gas, abdominal pain, and intolerance to fatty foods. She had ultrasounds completed and they showed evidence of gallstones. After reevaluating her symptoms and all the options for her, the best option for her was to remove the gallbladder. This procedure was a robotic surgery, and with that robot the surgeon uses controls to maneuver the robot. The liver produces bile, and bile is important for the digestion for foods, but especially fatty foods. Then bile travels down into the intestine, then travels down into the common bile duct, beside this is the gallbladder. The gallbladder serves as a storage location for all the bile. The gallbladder empties an extra amount of bile in order to aid for the absorption and digestion for the food. Gallstones...

Words: 570 - Pages: 3

Free Essay

Nursing Research

...Oncology Pancreatic Cancer The pancreas is a gland behind your stomach and in front of your spine. It produces juices that help break down food and hormones that help control blood sugar levels. The most common type of pancreatic cancer arises from the exocrine glands and is called adenocarcinoma of the pancreas. The endocrine glands of the pancreas can give rise to a completely different type of cancer, referred to as pancreatic neuroendocrine carcinoma or islet cell tumor. Pancreatic adenocarcinoma is among the most aggressive of all cancers. By the time that pancreatic cancer is diagnosed, most people already have disease that has spread to distant sites in the body. Risk Factors: * Smoking * Long-term diabetes * Chronic pancreatitis * Certain hereditary disorders * Being male * Over 60 * African American, * Eating a diet high in red meat and low in fruits and vegetables, * Being obese. Pancreatic Cancer Symptoms * Pain in the abdomen, the back, or both * * Weight loss, often associated with the following: * Loss of appetite (anorexia) * Bloating * Diarrhea or fatty bowel movements that float in water (steatorrhea) * Rarely may present with new diabetes in a person with weight loss and nausea * Jaundice (yellowing of the skin) The symptoms of pancreatic cancer are generally vague and can easily be attributed to other less serious and more common conditions. This lack of specific...

Words: 2015 - Pages: 9

Free Essay

Research

...Murphy’s sign may be a useful tool in establishing the diagnosis of cholecystitis. Confirmation of the diagnosis depends on a combination of physical findings and laboratory and imaging studies. A corollary, the sonographic Murphy’s sign, may be useful as well.1-5 SIGNS OF CHOLECYSTITIS MURPHY’S SIGN Elicitation: Palpate the right subcostal area while the patient inspires deeply Positive response: The patient feels pain upon this maneuver and may have an associated inspiratory arrest SONOGRAPHIC MURPHY’S SIGN Elicitation: Palpate the right subcostal area using an ultrasound transducer while the patient inspires deeply Positive response: The patient feels pain upon this maneuver, and the ultrasound transducer can confirm that the gallbladder is being pushed when the patient experiences inspiratory arrest HISTORIC PERSPECTIVE John B. Murphy (1857–1916) was a prominent Chicago surgeon from the 1880s through the early 1900s. He was well known for his thoracoplasty procedures,6,7 and also made valuable contributions to vascular, urologic, neurologic,...

Words: 1474 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Digestive Outline

...Introduction The purpose of this chapter is to Identify the anatomical components of the digestive system as well as their functions Discuss neural control of the digestive system Compare and contrast mechanical and chemical digestion Discuss the effects of again and disease on the digestive system The GI tract is long tube that is open at both ends for the transit of food during processing Named portions of the tube include the esophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine, and rectum Accessory structures are not part of the GI tract, but they do contribute to food processing Accessory structures include the teeth, tongue, salivary glands, liver, gall bladder, and pancreas Digestive Processes There are 6 basic processes involved in digestion The Digestive System The GI tract, and accessory organs like the liver and pancreas, are responsible for facilitating the body’s metabolic processes. Catabolism: Larger molecules are broken into smaller molecules (mouth, stomach, duodenum). In the GI tract, this is called digestion and can occur by either mechanical or chemical means. Anabolism: Smaller molecules are used as building blocks for larger molecules (liver). The Digestive System Mechanical digestion includes all movements that facilitate catabolic processes: Mastication Swallowing Mixing Increase contact of food with digestive chemicals Peristalsis Movement of muscles within the GI tract that facilitates movement of food The Digestive...

Words: 3786 - Pages: 16

Premium Essay

Mhkflugids

...Introduction The Digestive System • Most nutrients we eat cannot be used in existing form – Must be broken down into smaller components before body can make use of them • Digestive system—acts as a disassembly line – To break down nutrients into forms that can be used by the body – To absorb them so they can be distributed to the tissues • Gastroenterology—the study of the digestive tract and the diagnosis and treatment of its disorders 25-1 25-2 Digestive Function Digestive Function • Digestive system—organ system that processes food, extracts nutrients, and eliminates residue • Mechanical digestion—the physical breakdown of food into smaller particles • Five stages of digestion – Ingestion: selective intake of food – Digestion: mechanical and chemical breakdown of food into a form usable by the body – Absorption: uptake of nutrient molecules into the epithelial cells of the digestive tract and then into the blood and lymph – Compaction: absorbing water and consolidating the indigestible residue into feces – Defecation: elimination of feces – Cutting and grinding action of the teeth – Churning action of stomach and small intestines – Exposes more food surface to digestive enzymes 25-3 General Anatomy Digestive Function • Chemical digestion—a series of hydrolysis reactions that breaks dietary macromolecules into their monomers (residues) • Digestive system has two subdivisions: digestive tract and accessory organs • Digestive tract (alimentary canal) – Carried out...

Words: 4548 - Pages: 19

Premium Essay

Digestion

...First digestion problem I found was gallstones. The gallbladder is one of the body’s smallest organs. Located right below the liver, it collects bile, necessary for the digestion of fat, and releases it into the small intestine. When excess cholesterol is present in bile, stones can begin to form in the gallbladder – leading to excruciating pain, infection and other complications According to (The dr. oz show , 2010) gallstones, caused by the crystallization of excess cholesterol in the bile, cause sharp, shooting pain in the upper right of the abdomen. This pain can last from a few minutes to hours; often times, this pain can occur after a high-fat meal. MEDICAL TREATMENT: When infection occurs, or in more extreme cases when the gallbladder bursts, surgery is necessary. The most common removal method is laparoscopic gallbladder surgery, a safe procedure that utilizes a long, thin instrument with a video lens at the tip. The laparoscope gives the surgeon a magnified view of the internal organs. Recovery time is minimal and may require only one a short hospital stay. HOME REMEDIES: According to (Trudeau, 2006) Drink 1 gallon of distilled water combined with the juice of 5 organic lemons and 2 cups of raw organic apple cider vinegar every day for two weeks. The second digestion problem I found was Acid reflux According to (web, 2005-2010) at the entrance to your stomach is a valve, which is a ring of muscle called the lower esophageal sphincter (LES). Normally, the LES closes...

Words: 402 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Computational Analysis of Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (Snps) of Liver Cancer, Breast Cancer, and Lung Cancer

...Synopsis of Computational Analysis of Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNPs) of Liver cancer, Breast cancer, and Lung cancer B.Sc Hons. Biotechnology Institute of Industrial Biotechnology GOVT.COLLEGE UNIVERSITY LHR. INTRODUCTION Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), present in the protein encoding regions of the genome can have a profound influence on the structure and function of a protein. Simply these are the changes that could be silent or can be expressive, but mostly are silent. SNPs sometimes have very deleterious effects, such as change in only one nucleotide can cause missarrangement of whole of the sequence and thus codon is misread, accordingly wrong protein will form. In this study effect of SNPs on cancerous diseases will be studied. Many genes have been reported whicg have many silent and some expressive but deleterious mutations or SNPs. We will use different databases to collect the relevant data of SNPs and genes such as FASTA sequence, position, number of chromosome etc. then by usin different softwares for computational analysis of SNPs, this data will be explained on genomic level. To analyse the effect on protein level computational analysis of codones will be done. This give a brief role of SNPs(change) and its effect(disease). OBJECTIVE and SCOPE Main purpose of this work is to find out the mechanism through which SNPs cause changes at protein level. As the data will provide briefly the changes in the gene (at...

Words: 850 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Gi Function

...esophagus and protection of the airway from aspiration of food particles. Esophagus: Movement of food to the stomach by peristaltic waves. The lower esophageal sphincter (LES) prevents reflux of stomach contents. Stomach: Reservoir for food, mixing, and initial digestion of proteins; secretion of hydrochloric acid, instrinsic factor, and gastrin. The pyloric sphincter prevents reflux of intestinal contents. Small intestine: Digestion and absorption of nearly all nutrients in the duodenum and jejunum; absorption of bile salts in the terminal ilium. The brush border contains numerous digestive enzymes. The enzymes secretin and cholecystokinin are secreted by intestinal mucosa. Pancreas and gallbladder: The pancreas delivers digestive enzymes and bicarbonate to the duodenum. The gallbladder delivers bile salts to the duodenum. Large intestine: Reabsorption of water and storage of feces. Feces are delivered to the rectum for defecation (pgs. 805-812). 2. How does the autonomic nervous system influence gastrointestinal motility? Sympathetic nervous system activity is generally inhibitory to GI motility and secretion. Parasympathetic nervous system activity generally enhances motility (pgs. 813-814). 3. How do segmental and propulsive movements influence the digestive and absorptive functions of the small intestine? Segmental and propulsive movement mixes the chyme and digestive enzymes to enhance digestion and spreads out the chyme along the intestinal mucosa to aid absorption...

Words: 831 - Pages: 4