What is a cholecystectomy?
It can happen to just about anyone, really. Gallstones block the flow of bile in your gallbladder, or your gallbladder becomes inflamed, and you experience gallbladder pain and other symptoms of gallbladder disease. What happens next? Once you’ve actually been diagnosed with a gallbladder problem, you’ll be told you need a cholecystectomy. What exactly is a cholecystectomy? And what happens during it? Are there any complications?
These are questions that you would typically ask your doctor, but I find that a lot of people also seek information about this online. In this article, we’re going to go over what a cholecystectomy is, what options the surgeon may take during the actual surgery, and the complications that may arise later.
Explaining A Cholecystectomy
A cholecystectomy is a surgical procedure that removes the gallbladder. A cholecystectomy is usually done by a professional medical practitioner—especially one that is a specialist in stomach-related problems. Someone who is in the gastroenterology field will usually remove gallbladders. It is overall a very simple procedure that happens over half a million times a year in the United States.
Open Cholecystectomy vs Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy
In many cases, if you’re required a cholecystectomy, the surgeon’s method of choice will be a laparoscopic cholecystectomy, or a lap cholecystectomy for short. On rare occasions or in extraordinary circumstances, the surgeon may instead prefer an open cholecystectomy, but this isn’t often the case because one large incision, instead of the several small ones as done in a lap cholecystectomy, leaves the patient more prone to infection after the surgery.
What happens during a cholecystectomy?
When you’ve been prepped, the surgeon will anasthetize you. The surgeon will then ensure you’re asleep before making several small incisions with a scalpel along the abdomen. These incisions will be used to insert the camera which gives the laparoscope its name, and the tools required to remove the gallbladder. Once they locate your gallbladder, they clamp and cut the cystic duct and artery, simply removing your gallbladder from the liver bed. Then they pull it free from your body, get you fixed up and cleaned. The operation typically takes an hour.
In recent years, a similar operation technique has been developed that allows the surgeon to use your navel along with specially designed instruments that begin straight but can be easily bent or straightened as needed, and they remove your gallbladder that way. It’s becoming more popular because not only is it a single cut, it’s also hidden from sight. No more potentially unsightly scars for the patient!
What kinds of complications can occur?
The actual surgery itself is extremely straightforward and highly unlikely to actually have a complication. Most of the complications come AFTER the surgery itself. Here is a short list of complications that can come from gallbladder surgery:
- Bleeding
- Bile leak
- Infection (both of the incision and the site of the removal)
- Pancreatitis
- Abscess
- Hernia
- Blood clots
Don’t worry too much. If you experience any symptoms pertaining to these complications, call your physician or surgeon immediately. The odds of you obtaining these complications are very low. After surgery, your doctor may give you a diet to follow. Make sure to follow it to the letter. For other suggestions on what foods to eat, which foods to avoid and healthy eating, browse through our website or buy our handbook!
The Gallbladder Diet Handbook gathers information and recipes on healthy and nutritious meals to create a well-researched diet plan for those without a gallbladder.
The gallbladder diet is composed of a strict diet regimen for your morning, afternoon & evening meals. This handbook offers different meals for you to choose from during the course of the regimen. If you are having problems eating or if you’re not sure what to eat, then get this book before eating!
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