Nearly 400 stones packed tightly in woman's gallbladder
Doctors at E Hospital, Hanoi, have just performed laparoscopic surgery to remove a 60-year-old patient's gallbladder, which was jammed with nearly 400 gallstones.
The patient was diagnosed with gallstones in 2014. Since it was not painful, she was treated with oral medication at a hospital in Thai Nguyen.
Recently, the patient has been experiencing increasing pain in the lower ribs, and the doctor diagnosed chronic cholecystitis with stones. At E Hospital, the doctor discovered that the patient's gallbladder was filled with many stones, the bile wall was thick due to chronic inflammation, and there was no bile. The patient was prescribed laparoscopic cholecystectomy.
Associate Professor Do Truong Son, Head of the Department of General Surgery, said the patient's gallbladder contained about 400 stones. Of these, the largest had a diameter of one centimeter, like a marble.
After gallbladder removal, her health is stable, she can eat and drink, has no pain, and can be discharged in the next few days.
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Nearly 400 gallstones were removed from the patient's gallbladder. Photo:Youth. |
According to the doctor, the number of gallstones is so high partly because the patient has a chronic disease, and partly because of age-related metabolic disorders that affect the cholesterol content of bile in the gallbladder.
Gallstones are formed mainly from the accumulation of cholesterol due to an imbalance of components in bile such as cholesterol, bilirubin, calcium salts... When the amount of cholesterol in bile increases too much, exceeding the solubility of bile salts or the amount of bile salts decreases, leading to the formation of stones. In addition, gallstones are also formed due to the accumulation of bilirubin due to sickle cell anemia, cirrhosis...
Women are at higher risk of gallstones than men. People who are sedentary, sit a lot, are overweight, have diabetes, and are over 60 years old; people with a diet high in cholesterol or too restrictive... are also susceptible to gallstones.
To prevent gallstones, Dr. Son recommends regular health check-ups. If left untreated, the patient's gallbladder may become inflamed, have bile duct obstruction, and develop jaundice. The patient is at risk of complications such as gallbladder necrosis, fluid leaking into the abdominal cavity, causing peritonitis or sepsis.
