Prognosis
After removal of the gallbladder, most patients have a good chance of never getting a gallstone disease (biliary colic) again. In some cases, however, the stones may still form in the bile duct and cause pain there. Patients who suffer from hereditary gallstones or who cannot (cannot) eliminate the above-mentioned risk factors are usually affected.
In general, however, the prognosis after surgery is very good. Non-operative gallstone treatments have a worse prognosis. As mentioned above, they often have only a 70% success rate.
Prophylaxis
Many risk factors, such as age or sex, cannot be influenced. Probably however the nourishing habits change (no cholesterinreiche, ballaststoffarme nutrition) and the body weight reduce. Drinking a glass of milk at night should cause the gallbladder to empty and thus reduce the risk of gallstones forming.
Summary
Gallstone disease (biliary colic) is a very common disease. It is estimated that 15% of all women and 7.5% of all men are carriers of gallstones. However, 75% do not cause any symptoms, are sometimes not detected and do not need to be treated.
Symptomatic stones are usually removed with gallbladder by laparoscopic surgery. The causes of gallstones are usually age, female sex, overweight, lack of exercise, high cholesterol and low fiber diet.If the stones are in the gallbladder, they usually cause pain in the upper abdomen after a high-fat meal or when lying down at night. If the stones wander through the bile ducts and get stuck or rub against the walls of the ducts, they can cause wavelike, severe pain (colic).
Patients with colic are usually bathed in sweat, walk around restlessly, and are often unable to locate the site of the pain. Most patients are permanently symptom-free after surgical removal of the gallbladder and stones. In some exceptional cases, however, stones can continue to form in the bile duct and thus also cause colic (gallstone disease).
