Gallbladders, Gallstones and Surgery

            The gallbladder is an organ that is located in the upper right quadrant in your stomach. Similar to the appendix, you can live without the gallbladder, so if one encounters a problem with gallstones, surgery is required, so that you have the ability to live a pain free life. About 90 percent of gallstones do not cause symptoms, however, this depends on the seriousness, and how many gallstones one does have in their gallbladder. When symptoms do occur, it can interfere with daily activities and this is when surgery is required. .
             First, we must review the anatomy of the gallbladder, so that one could have a better understanding of what happens when one has gallstones. The gallbladder main function is to store bile; this bile is made in the liver and sent through ducts into the gallbladder. The gallbladder stores bile, and has it available when a larger or meal that contains more fat is eaten. The absorption of food, releases a hormone called cholecystokinin, which signals the relaxation of the valve at the end of the bile duct, the relaxation lets the bile enter into the small intestine, it also signals the reduction of the gallbladder which shoots the concentrated liquid bile into the small intestine where it helps breakdown the fats in the meal (Graefer, 2007). Your gallbladder is most likely to start to cause you pain or give you trouble when something is blocking the ducts in which the bile is traveled through. Gallstones are usually the substance that causes this blockage. .
             Gallstones are the main reason in why your gallbladder would be surgically removed. Gallstones cause your gallbladder to become inflamed and this is called (acute cholecystitis). Gallstones are formed from cholesterol, but another common stone can be formed from a substance called calcium bilirubinate, gallstones are usually a mix of these two types of stones. Gallstones are formed when there is an unbalance between bile salts and cholesterol, since cholesterol is not very resolvable, fluid needs to remain moving and when it is not, the bile fluid turns into sludge.