Is gallstone serious?

Gallstones are a relatively common liver and gallbladder disease, which are quite harmful to patients. Gallstones are prone to recurring and cause biliary colic, a very severe pain that can even cause shock in patients. Gallstones can easily induce other liver-related diseases, such as cholecystitis, some liver disease manifestations, and even tumors.

1. Cause biliary colic

Approximately 20% of patients with "asymptomatic" gallstones develop biliary colic each year. During the symptom-free intervals, the stones float around in the gallbladder, and the patient does not feel anything during these times. After a fatty meal or at night, gallstones are easily stuck in the neck of the gallbladder or in the cystic duct. Once the stones are stuck, the bile in the gallbladder cannot flow out, causing the pressure in the gallbladder to increase and the gallbladder to swell. In order to discharge its bile, the gallbladder has to strengthen its contraction. The rapid expansion and contraction of the gallbladder in a short period of time produces severe colic. This type of colic is often persistent and worsens in paroxysmal forms. In severe cases, shock or even life-threatening conditions may occur.

2. Various types of biliary inflammation

In the past, people were only familiar with gallstones and cholecystitis, but now bile duct cancer is also very common, and patients with gallbladder cancer often have gallstones, which proves that gallbladder cancer and gallstones are directly related. There is information showing that gallbladder stones can cause gallbladder cancer.

3. Various types of biliary inflammation

It is probably well known that gallstones lead to cholecystitis. In addition, some small stones fall into the common bile duct and are discharged into the duodenum. Each time they fall into the common bile duct, they can damage the hepatopancreatic ampulla sphincter at the end of the common bile duct. Repeated occurrence of this can cause stenosis of the end of the common bile duct, leading to common bile duct stones and gallstones in the pancreas. Some large stones that impact and compress the gallbladder and its adjacent organs may form intrabiliary fistulas, such as cholecystoduodenal fistula, cholecystotransverse colon fistula, cholecystocommon bile duct fistula, etc.

4. Causes Gallbladder Cancer

An expert in hepatobiliary surgery said that in the past, people were only familiar with gallstones and cholecystitis, but now bile duct cancer is also very common, and patients with gallbladder cancer often have gallstones, which proves that gallbladder cancer and gallstones are directly related. Data show that about 0.5 to 1% of gallbladder stones are complicated by gallbladder cancer. This situation often leads to misdiagnosis, and statistics show that the misdiagnosis rate can reach 79.5%. Gallbladder cancer is often discovered during gallstone surgery, usually in the late stages, with extremely poor treatment outcomes, and the vast majority of patients die within a year. Director Lu pointed out that if early diagnosis is achieved and simple cholecystectomy is performed promptly for gallbladder cancer that has not metastasized, the 5-year survival rate can reach 92%.