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FAQs

When faced with gallstones and surgery there are many questions that immediately come to mind. Some may be very specific to an individual. However over the many years of experience the Yorkshire Gallstone Clinic has in this area, we have been able to compile the following list of more generalised, but equally important questions, and their associated answers.

Please click on the questions below to reveal the answers.

  • If I avoid fatty food will my pain go away?
  • Can anything else be done other than surgery?
  • How long will I be off work?
  • What are the side effects from having your gallbladder removed?
  • What are gallbladder polyps?
  • Can anything else be done other than surgery?
  • Can gallstones can be removed without removing the gallbladder?
  • Can I produce stones after my operation?
  • What is the biggest risk from cholecystectomy?
  • Will I go home the same day?

  • If I avoid fatty food will my pain go away?

    Although there are thousands of people with asymptomatic gallstones, once you start getting pain and discomfort from your gallbladder the pain will never go away until you have surgery to remove your gallbladder. You are likely to reduce the incidence of attacks if you stick to a fat free diet, but your symptoms will persist until you have your gallbladder removed.

  • Can anything else be done other than surgery?

    You can take tablets which dissolve gallstones but they only work in about 10% of people. They take months to dissolve the gallstones and once you stop taking the tablets the gallstones reappear. Many patients ask about shock wave treatment to the gallstones. This is not recommended since the fragments of stone will then pass down the common bile duct and cause life threatening conditions such as cholangitis and pancreatitis.

  • How long will I be off work?

    The average time back to work is 11 days with a range from 2days to three weeks. Our advice is to warn your colleagues at work that you may be off work for three

  • What are the side effects from having your gallbladder removed?

    The vast majority of patients have no side effects but are simply glad that their pain has gone. One or two people in every hundred have an increased frequency in bowel habit or a touch of indigestion. These problems usually resolve after a month or two.

  • What are gallbladder polyps?

    True gallbladder polyps are quite rare and are small growths of tissue on the inside wall of the gallbladder. They are usually asymptomatic and benign. Once they reach 5mm in size cholecystectomy is recommended since there is a tiny theoretical risk of these polyps becoming cancer. Most gallbladder polyps are infact cholesterol stones stuck to the inside wall of the gallbladder. Often people have symptoms and cholecystectomy is recommended.

  • Can anything else be done other than surgery?

    You can take tablets which dissolve gallstones but they only work in about 10% of people, they take months to dissolve the gallstones and once you stop taking the tablets the gallstones reappear. Many patients ask about shock wave treatment to the gallstones. This is not recommended since the fragments of stone will then pass down the common bile duct and cause life threatening conditions such as cholangitis and pancreatitis.

  • Can gallstones can be removed without removing the gallbladder?

    Opening the gallbladder to remove gallstones would be highly risky. The gallbladder has a tenuous blood supply and would not repair well after such surgery. The end result would be a life threatening bile leak. Also even if this was possible you would still have your gallbladder and you would make more stones.

  • Can I produce stones after my operation?

    Gallstone crystals may form in the common bile duct after you have had your operation but at least three times a day the valve at the lower end opens and the bile is flushed through into the duodenum. Therefore it is very unlikely that any crystals will stay in the common bile duct and grow into gallstones.

  • What is the biggest risk from cholecystectomy?

    The most serious risk from this operation is an injury to your bile duct. This occurs in less than 0.5% of patients in the UK. The Surgeons in the Gallstone Clinic always carry out a special Xray during the operation called a cholangiogram wich gives the surgeon a road map of the bile ducts. In this way the chances of injury is reduced to a minimum.

  • Will I go home the same day?

    95% of patients will go home the same day. The sutures all dissolve under the skin. Don’t soak the wounds for a day or two after the operation.