The Gallbladder Case

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During the dissection of the abdomen Mr. Raj’s gallbladder was removed, and an incision was made to expose the content of the Gallbladder. The gallbladder is a pear-shaped sac like organ in the right hypochondriac region. It is positioned on the visceral surface of the liver, just inferior to the 9th costal cartilage on the right midclavicular line. The fundus of the gallbladder is along the transpyloric plane (L1). A coronal incision revealed that Mr. Raj’s gallbladder had gallstones.
Normal anatomy of The Gallbladder
The gallbladder is a foregut organ part of the biliary system, which comprises of the liver and the pancreas. It is supplied by the cystic artery which is a branch of the right hepatic artery from the proper hepatic artery from the coeliac trunk. The venous drainage of the gallbladder is part of the portal system which is drained by cystic veins into
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Research dictates that there are two kinds of gallstones: cholesterol stones and pigment stones. The cholesterol kind of stones form when there is too much cholesterol in the bile. The pigment one forms when there is surplus bilirubin in the bile. Gallstones can vary in size, from as tiny as a grain of sand to the size of a golf ball. The symptoms will depend on the size of the gallstones.
The size of Mr. Raj’s gallstones were small which could probably mean that it was asymptomatic.
Causes of gallstones
The cause of gallstones is due to an imbalance in the chemical composition of bile inside the gallbladder. Firstly, when the levels of cholesterol in bile are too high the excess cholesterol forms into stones. Secondly, if the bile contains too much bilirubin, due to conditions such as liver cirrhosis, biliary tract infections and certain blood disorders the excess bilirubin contributes to gallstone formation. People who are either overweight or obese, female and 40 or over are more likely to develop gallstones.