Gall Bladder Surgery Problem

The Gall Bladder is a small sack, which is located adjacent to the liver and pancreas. The liver secretes bile, a greenish-yellow enzyme, essential for digestion, especially fats. This bile is stored in the gall bladder, and secreted in small quantities, into the duodenum, where it is used for digestion. The gall bladder can hold about 50 ml of bile at a time, and thus performs an important function.

Sometimes stones may form in the bile, leading to an obstruction in the minute bile ducts. This causes immense pain in the abdomen, and may have serious consequences, by causing further infections of the gall bladder, liver and pancreas. Other diseases too, may affect the gall bladder. In such cases, surgery is the only option.

But while you may be thinking that post-surgery you can eat what you want and have a perfect digestion, with total cessation of pain, gall bladder surgery could also come with its own list of problems and complications.

Gall Bladder Removal is usually done by laparoscopic surgery. This has its advantages because the incision is small and the trauma to the surroundings less, so the patient needs only a couple of days of hospitalization. But unless it is performed by a well-trained surgeon, there could be serious complications.

Since the gall bladder, its ducts and the surrounding organs are all small and crowded together, the surgeon usually works with the aid of a television camera, and not by direct contact and sight. A frequent injury that happens is that the common hepatic bile duct may get cut, if the surgeon makes a mistake and is unable to identify the actual duct that needs to be removed.

If this bile duct gets cut or even slightly nicked or perforated, it will cause the bile to seep into the patent’s abdominal cavity. This eventually poisons the patient, leading to death. In some cases, the bile may enter the bloodstream causing severe jaundice.

Sometimes the surgeon may try corrective surgery to rectify the damage he has done to the common bile duct, by placing clips or strictures on the duct. But this narrows down the duct, causing a hindrance in the normal flow of bile to the intestines. Pain, digestive problems, raised liver enzymes and jaundice follows.

Cholangitis is another serious problem that can occur after a gall bladder surgery. This is an inflammation caused by infection of the bile ducts. This causes waste products and bacteria present in the small intestine to travel up into the bile duct, leading to infection. Gradually, the patient suffers from jaundice and pain and the liver stops functioning, leading to death. Good post-surgical care is very essential.