Gallbladder stone is a disease in which stones occur in the gallbladder and is a common disease in China, with the incidence increasing with age, with a higher incidence in women than in men. It has a huge adverse impact on the patient’s work, life, physical and mental health, and can be life-threatening in serious cases. Here we will briefly introduce gallbladder stones. First of all, let’s introduce the function of gallbladder. The normal human gallbladder is about 7×5×3cm3 in size and is located under the right liver, which is under the rib cage of the right upper abdomen of the body. The gallbladder is not the source of bile production; it is only a storehouse for storing and concentrating bile. Normally, it stores and concentrates the bile produced by the liver. When eating, the stimulation of food causes the gallbladder to actively contract and discharge the concentrated bile into the intestine, which serves to assist in the digestion of food. Next, we will introduce the general process of gallbladder stone production. Under normal circumstances, stones do not occur in the gallbladder because there is a certain percentage of bile salts and lecithin in the normal bile to keep the cholesterol dissolved and not precipitated. In order for stones to form, there must be certain conditions for stone formation, i.e., a decrease in antinucleation factors and an increase in nucleation factors in the bile of the gallbladder, resulting in an imbalance in the ratio of the above three factors, thus forming stones. Stones are broadly classified as cholesterol stones, bile pigment stones and mixed stones. Gallbladder stones are more likely to form if the mucous membrane in the gallbladder is hairy. So, can gallbladder stones cause harm to human body? The answer is yes. Most of the gallbladder infections are induced by gallbladder stones, and the long-term and chronic stimulation of gallbladder mucosa by gallbladder stones can also lead to the malignant transformation of gallbladder mucosa cells, which can develop into gallbladder cancer. When gallbladder stones fall into the common bile duct from the gallbladder, it will induce acute cholangitis, which will in turn induce acute pancreatitis, which can seriously endanger the life of the patient. What are the manifestations of gallbladder stones? (1) Asymptomatic gallbladder stones: Asymptomatic means no biliary colic, because the stones are not embedded in the neck of the gallbladder and bile excretion is not obstructed, so the patient is almost asymptomatic, or even undetected for life. Sometimes there is only mild epigastric distention, vague pain, discomfort, belching, etc., especially after eating a fatty diet. It is easy to be treated as hepatitis and gastritis. (2) Biliary colic: The pain is severe colic in the right upper abdomen, radiating to the right shoulder and back, accompanied by nausea and vomiting. Sometimes the symptoms disappear because the stone is embedded in the neck of the gallbladder. Otherwise, fever, peritonitis, shock and other manifestations may occur secondary to gallbladder infection, suppuration, gangrene and perforation. Biliary colic mostly attacks after a full meal or eating greasy food, and a few patients have nocturnal attacks. (3) Jaundice: stones falling into the common bile duct or stones embedded in the neck of the gallbladder compressing the common bile duct can cause intrahepatic bile to be unable to drain smoothly into the intestine. Most patients with gallbladder stones are found during routine physical examinations, and some patients are found during medical visits for episodes of right upper abdominal pain. In addition to the important medical history and physical examination, abdominal ultrasound and abdominal CT scan are important tools to check for gallbladder stones, the foremost of which is the abdominal ultrasound examination with a high accuracy rate. Once gallbladder stones are detected, they need to be treated actively, especially in patients with diabetes, once the gallbladder infection strikes, the inflammation is difficult to control due to the influence of blood sugar. Some of the tiny cholesterol stones can be treated by oral medications such as ursodeoxycholic acid, but the vast majority of gallbladder stones require surgery. With the progress of science, the technique of trans-laparoscopic cholecystectomy is now very mature. It has almost completely replaced the traditional open surgical approach in elective surgery due to its characteristics of less patient pain after surgery, faster wound healing, less chance of wound complications, no need to remove stitches from the wound, and short postoperative hospital stay. After gallbladder removal, the extrahepatic bile duct can partially compensate for the function of the gallbladder. On the other hand, some patients with both gallbladder stones and coronary artery disease present with symptoms of coronary artery disease, and the use of drugs for heart treatment such as coronary dilation alone is not ideal. Instead, those drugs that reduce biliary angina such as atropine and dulcolax are effective. That is because of the appearance of biliary heart syndrome. The mechanism that causes biliary heart syndrome is caused by the nerves that innervate the biliary tract and the heart, which partially cross at the spinal cord area, and when gallbladder disease strikes, it can cause contraction of the diseased coronary artery through nerve reflexes and decrease blood flow, which leads to angina, arrhythmia and abnormal ECG. Rather, when the two diseases are found to coexist, biliary angina attacks can cause the appearance of coronary heart disease symptoms, which is clinically known as biliary heart syndrome. Gallbladder stones are like dangerous time bombs that can explode at any time. Therefore, it is recommended to detect gallbladder stones and treat them early.