Gallstones - 1 Million New Cases Each Year
INTRODUCTION: Gallstones are pieces of hard solid matter found in the gallbladder and can be as tiny as a grain of sand or as large as a golf ball, depending on how long they have been growing. They often have no signs and are routinely found by a routine x-ray, surgery, or autopsy.
They also may move around within bile, for example, from the gallbladder into the cystic or common duct. They are a common health problem worldwide and happen more frequently in women than men becoming more common with age in both males and females. More than 20 million Americans have them and approximately 1 million new cases are found per year.
SYMPTOMS: Gallstones can feel like chest pain caused by a heart attack and other serious conditions. Symptoms normally start after a large stone blocks the cystic duct or the common bile duct and usually do not return after the gallbladder has been removed. Approximately 80% of people do not have any signs for a number of years, if ever, particularly if the stones stay in the gallbladder.
If you have signs, you most likely will have mild pain in the pit of your stomach or in the upper right portion of your belly. About percent of people who have signs also have stones in the common bile duct.
Exactly how diet can produces gallstone formation is not known, but diets which are high in cholesterol and fat, and low in fiber can increase the chance of developing Them.
There are two basic types of gallstones. Pigmented (bilirubin) kinds are found most often in Persons with severe liver disease and persons with some blood disorders such as sickle cell anemia.
Cholesterol types are found most often in: Women over 20, especially pregnant women, and men over 60 years old, People on "crash diets" who lose a lot of weight quickly, Patients who use certain medications including birth control pills and cholesterol lowering agents, Native-Americans and Mexican-Americans.
TREATMENTS: Gallstones that do not produce symptoms do not need treatment, But if they block a duct, they do. Surgery to remove the gallbladder (cholecystectomy) is the option of choice for stones that produce moderate to severe pain or other symptoms. However, only one of five people can have this treatment. Those who have it frequently form new stones after a few years. Half of these need treatment, with a cost to society of several billion dollars annually.
Many new approaches to treatment have been tested over the past several years, however surgical removal of the gallbladder (cholecystectomy) is still the most widely used therapy. Non-surgical treatment includes pain medicines, antibiotics to fight infection, and a low-fat diet (when food can be tolerated).
A licensed doctor should be consulted for diagnosis and treatment of any and all medical conditions.
CONCLUSION: Gallstones usually form in the gallbladder; however, they also may form anywhere there is bile: in the intrahepatic, hepatic, common bile, and cystic ducts. They form when cholesterol and other things found in bile make stones.
They can develop in many people without producing symptoms and do not create belching and bloating. Gallstones usually happen in adults between the ages of 20 and 50, and are more common in females in this age group.
About the Author:
About The Author: Richard H. Ealom is the Author of this article and the writer of "Free Articles On Sickness and Diseases: How To Prevent and Cure Them". Want more information Please go to us at our websites@Diabetes & Cancer Secrets OR Go To Heart Disease & Obesity Secrets. You have full permission to reprint this article provided this box is kept unchanged.
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