What Are Gallstones?

Gallstones are clusters of solid material that form in the gallbladder. The most common type is made mostly of cholesterol. Gallstones may occur as one large stone or as many small ones. Gallstones vary in size and may be as large as a golf ball or as small as a grain of sand.

As many as 20 million Americans have gallstones.

Most people don't know they have gallstones and experience no symptoms. They may have painless gallstones, or silent gallstones.

Sometimes gallstones cause abdominal or back pain, called symptomatic gallstones.

In rare cases, gallstones can cause serious health problems. Hundreds of thousands of hospitalizations and operations occur annually as a result of gallstones.

How Gallstones Develop

Gallstones develop in the gallbladder, a small pear-shaped organ located beneath the liver on the right side of the abdomen. The gallbladder is about 3 inches long and 1 inch wide at its thickest part. It stores and releases bile into the intestine to help digestion.

Bile is a liquid made by the liver. It contains water, cholesterol, bile salts, fats, proteins, and bilirubin (a bile pigment). During digestion, the gallbladder contracts to release bile into the intestine, where the bile salts help to break down fat. Bile also dissolves excess cholesterol.

According to researchers, cholesterol gallstones may form in several ways, such as:

1) When bile contains more cholesterol than it can dissolve.

2) When there is too much bilirubin or other substance in the bile that causes cholesterol to form hard crystals.

3) When there are not enough bile salts to break down fat.

4) When the gallbladder does not contract and empty its bile regularly.

Some Common Symptoms of Gallstones or Gallstone Attack include:

1) Severe pain in the upper abdomen that starts suddenly and lasts from 30 minutes to many hours.
2) Pain under the right shoulder or in the right shoulder blade.
3) Nausea or vomiting.
4) Indigestion after eating high-fat foods, such as fried foods or desserts.

Treatment For Gallstones

Silent gallstones are usually left alone and sometimes disappear on their own. Symptomatic gallstones are usually treated. The most common treatment is surgery to remove the gallbladder. This operation is called a cholecystectomy. In other cases, nonsurgical approaches, such as drugs, are used to dissolve the gallstones. Your health care professional can help determine which option is best for you.