Avoiding fatty foods may ease pain, nausea
Before age 50, a woman is three times more likely than a man to develop gallbladder disease. After age 50, a woman's risk of gallbladder disease is equal to a man's.
Nobody knows for sure why that is.. The typical patient is a woman who has had children or rapidly lost weight. Gallbladder problems also seem to run in families, but that's not always the case.
The gallbladder is a storage vessel for bile, a substance produced by the liver that is needed to digest fat. When fat is eaten, the gallbladder contracts and bile flows through several ducts into the intestine.
The most common disorder of the gallbladder is gallstones, hard deposits that form in the gallbladder. When these stones obstruct the normal flow of bile, the result is a 'gallbladder attack' that causes severe pain and nausea, or possibly more serious problems.
These stones can get stuck in one of the ducts and cause a number of complications, including inflammation of the gallbladder or pancreas, or jaundice. So surgeons try to remove the gallbladder before these complications occur.
More than 600,000 Americans have their gallbladders removed each year. Gallbladder surgery is most commonly performed through a laparoscope, an instrument with video capability that allows the surgeon to see inside the body without making large incisions. The surgery requires four small incisions, takes 25 to 30 minutes, and allows people to return to work in about a week.
Gallbladder attacks often occur after a fatty, greasy meal. Patients complain of pain under the rib cage, sometimes going to the right shoulder blade or in the chest. Because of the location of the pain, the pysician first has to rule out coronary disease in many cases.
There is no known way to prevent gallstones. People with suspected gallbladder problems, however, may ease their discomfort by watching what they eat.
Most people with gallbladder disease have to stop eating fried, fatty foods. Patients are warned that, after their surgery, they may gain weight because they can eat anything they want.
Last Updated: September 29, 2009