Treatment for Gallstones

Read about Treatment for Gallstones presented in simple easy to understand language

Because most of the gallstones produce no symptoms, they require no treatment. Doctors often discover these "silent stones" during routine medical checkups or exams for other illnesses and usually recommend taking a wait-and-see approach to treatment. If your gallstones cause symptoms, however, several possible treatments are available.

Gallstones may be treated in one of the following mentioned ways
1) Surgery: Removal of the gallbladder is the most preferred treatment for the people who are suffering from gallstones.

The surgery can be performed in two ways
Laparoscopic surgery: This surgery is performed using a laparoscope, a pencil-thin tube with its own lighting system and miniature video camera. A surgeon inserts the laparoscope into your abdomen through a hollow instrument (cannula). Only small incisions are required. The video camera then produces a magnified view on a television monitor of the inside of your abdomen. This allows the surgeon to see the surgery in detail. To remove your gallbladder, he or she uses tiny instruments inserted through several other small abdominal incisions. Because laparoscopic cholecystectomy uses smaller incisions, you'll likely have less postoperative pain, less scarring and an earlier return to your normal activity — often within just a few days. Laparoscopic removal of the gallbladder is effective in the majority of cases.

Open surgery: Occasional option is open surgery, in which the gallbladder is removed through a large abdominal incision. Your doctor may regard this surgery as the best option in severe cases. It may also be used when the gallbladder walls are thick and hard, the gallbladder is obviously infected, or there is scar tissue from earlier abdominal operations. Recovery from open surgery typically entails up to a week's stay in the hospital, followed by several weeks at home.
Nonsurgical options

2) Bile salt tablets: Your doctor may advice you to take the medication ursodiol (Actigall), which dissolves cholesterol stones over a period of time. The treatment works best on small cholesterol stones. To prevent a recurrence, most people need to take the medication indefinitely.

3) Sound wave therapy (extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy): This treatment uses high-frequency sound waves to break up gallstones. You then take ursodiol tablets to dissolve the fragments. Sound wave therapy is appropriate for only a small percentage of people with gallstones. If you have more than one stone, your stone is large, or you have acute cholecystitis or cholangitis, you're probably not a good candidate for this treatment. And, as with other nonsurgical therapies, your gallstones are likely to return unless you take ursodiol indefinitely.