Anyone know anything about some doctors dont think removal of the gallbladder is a good thing???

Question

I am getting a scan done soon to check my gallbladder cause i am having some problems that seem to be indicating it mightnt be functioning correctly.i know its not done in every case but i know that the gallbladder is removed altogether in certain cases.my doc said briefly your body can do without the gallbladder but he said ideally it wouldnt be desirable to take it out.a few other people have told me some people dont think its a good idea removing the gallbladder.it may never happen to me but i would just like to know the reasons why some people are against it.i cant find anything with search engines.thank you everyone

Answer 1

The above answers are essentially correct. There is no physiologic reason that the gallbladder CANNOT be removed, however, it IS surgery and if surgery isn't necessary it should not be done. Surgery, even at it's safest, has risks. If there is very little risk in doing a surgical procedure, then we can be a little bit looser with offering that procedure in questionable cases. However, there has to be SOME reason to believe that surgery will be of some benefit, otherwise the risks, even if small, are unjustified.

Some people believe that there are alternative methods for clearing the biliary system of calculi (stones). These beliefs are, unfortunately, in error. People without a basic understanding of the chemistry of bile and its stones will sometimes suggest a "gallbladder cleanse" as an alternative to surgery. There are a number of gallbladder cleansing recipes that I have seen. They frequently include that a large volume of olive oil and some lemon juice be ingested. Olive oil, as a fat source, will cause gallbladder contraction and thus pain, for those who have gallstones which cause symptoms with gallbladder contraction. Additionally, large volumes of oil will overwhelm the digestive function of lipase, a fat degrading enzyme, and cause rich oil to be delivered all the way into the colon. Oils and lemon juice can combine together to make semisolids which are then passed in the feces. The end result is that people take this "cleanse", experience gallbladder pain, and then poop out little greenish balls, and claim that they've passed all their stones! Of course, they've passed a bunch of oily stool, and the stones are still there. Additionally, causing strong gallbladder contractions in this type of scenario - in a symptomatic patient - is something that could, in principle, precipitate an acute gallbladder disaster.

Bile, which is stored and concentrated by the gallbladder between meals, passes continuously into the intestine after the gallbladder is removed. Bile is actually reabsorbed by the gut and reused by the liver. People without gallbladders only occassionally report some mild diarrhea symptoms directly after surgery, and almost never have any long lasting gastrointestinal function changes. Many years back, surgeons actually studied this, but it seems to have become a non-entity after that. I personally have never seen a patient who has chronic ongoing symptoms after the gallbladder was removed, that I can attribute to the biliary system. Occassionally, there will be people with chronic maldigestive symptoms, complaints of "bloating", nonspecific abdominal pains, constipation and sometimes diarrhea as well, after a gallbladder surgery. I am convinced that in most of these cases, the gallbladder was never really the problem in the first place, and it was removed without a positive or negative effect.

By senior life, about 20% of people will have developed gallstones. However, only about 1 or 2% of these people per year will have developed symptoms. Most people who have gallstones never have a problem.

A small number of people may have classic symptoms suggestive of gallbladder/duct pain, but then an ultrasound is unrevealing. Of these patients, there are occassionally people that we can prove have a dysfunction of the gallbladder of a different type. This is termed "biliary dyskinesia". There is some science behind it, but the reality is that gallbladder removal is so safe and so well tolerated by patients, that as long as we have SOME data to suggest that the gallbladder is the root of the problem, we feel justified in suggesting to remove it.

If a surgeon suggests to remove your gallbladder, it is because they feel that the minimal risk of that procedure is outweighed by the potential and probability of the procedure being of benefit to you.

I hope that helps!

Answer 2

Sorry I have never heard of any reason not to remove it. I do know if it goes bad you think you are going to die from the pain and all you want is it removed. If it get highly infected and you don't get it out you can die from the infection it spreads through your body.I had my out before they did the scope so I had a incision and was in the hospital 5 days. My daughter had her out 2 weeks ago and is back to work. She was in the hospital as an out patient and has 4 small hole . Go for it if you need it removed. Good luck!