Ultrasound examination of the abdomen was not possible 50 years ago just like the coronary angiography and bypass surgery for the heart. If these were available then, many would have lived to be grandfathers and great grandfathers. CT and MRI Scanners were not available 40 years ago. Or else many other ailments would have been diagnosed and treated on time before it is too late. Laparoscopic surgery was not available 30 years ago when gall bladder and appendix operations needed big cuts on the abdomen leaving a long ugly scar.
We are lucky to born in this era when all the above advances in medicine and surgery are available and where people are surviving into their 80s and 90s. I am a specialist in abdominal surgery , technically called gastro-intestinal surgery and have gained expertise in laparoscopic as well as robotic surgery. With these advances many operations in the abdomen more accurately through small incisions the size of little finger and most patients go home the same day of the operation which used to take a week earlier.
Gall stones are stones formed in a small sac attached to the liver. The function of this small balloon like structure is to concentrate the bile and pump it into the intestine when necessary. Stones form when the gall bladder stops functioning and unable to pump bile anymore. A non-functioning gall bladder with stones can be a source of constant trouble like acidity, burping and belching and occasionally cause jaundice by a stone jumping into and blocking the bile duct which takes the bile from the liver into the intestine. This type of jaundice will require immediate attention in the form of a sophisticated investigation called ERCP to remove the bile duct stone and is not available easily everywhere. Rarely stones from the gall bladder can cause obstruction to the flow of pancreatic juice from the pancreas gland and cause a life threatening condition called ‘acute pancreatitis’ needing ICU treatment. Rarely these gall bladder stones can cause cancer in the gall bladder especially in the population living on the banks of Ganges river.
There is no known medical treatment for gall stones both in allopathic and alternative medical systems. Surgery or surgical removal of the gall bladder is the only solution. We have gained experience in doing the operation as a day-care procedure where the patient gets admitted in the morning of surgery, gets operated and gets discharged in the afternoon of the same day. Such is the ease of operation and hence anyone with gall bladder stones should see a surgeon with expertise in this field and should get good advice.
Authored by Dr. Patta Radhakrishna
