Back to Homepage
Well, generally speaking, the answer to that would be removal of the gallbladder, and generally it’s done in a laparoscopic fashion. In other words, through very small openings in the abdomen, surgeon gets to see exactly what to do and through very specialized instruments, the gallbladder is what’s called dissected, and that’s just another word for moved around a little bit. All its attachments are clipped, divided, and then the gallbladder is removed. It sounds simple. Most of the time, it’s not complicated, but it is a major operation because remember that the only difference between a laparoscopic approach — that’s through small openings and a camera — and a regular approach that requires a larger incision is the size of the incision. Inside, it’s still a major operation and that’s how the mindset of everyone, patient and the doctor, should be geared towards that. Are there any other approaches? Well, most of the time, no. There is really no medical management of gallbladder disease. There are no other therapies such as lithotripsies, that’s the sort of blasting of the stones with ultrasound waves. That has been tried and that does not work. So the only real treatment is the removal of the gallbladder.
