Gallstone disease is a common disease, and a recent national survey showed that the incidence of gallstone disease in China is about 12%, which means that there are nearly 15 million gallstone patients in China. Gallstone disease can be a common condition that causes no symptoms, so many patients take it lightly. In fact, gallstone can cause gallbladder inflammation, but it can also cause many other harmful diseases. Pancreatitis is one of the most dangerous consequences of gallstone disease. Epidemiological surveys show that in Germany, France and other Western European countries about 40% of pancreatitis patients are caused by gallstone disease, while in Greece, Italy and other southern European countries is up to 75% of pancreatitis patients are caused by gallstone disease. The epidemiological data of several groups in China show that about 50%-80% of pancreatitis patients are caused by cholelithiasis. Therefore, gallstone disease is the culprit of pancreatitis. Why does gallstone disease affect the pancreas? This is because the biliary system and the pancreatic duct often share a common opening, the Vater’s belly, which is surrounded by the sphincter of Oddi and acts like a door. Under normal circumstances, bile and pancreatic juice will pass through this common opening when they reach a certain pressure. When stones in the biliary system move down and block the common opening, or stones and their inflammation cause spasm and edema of the Oddi sphincter, bile and pancreatic juice cannot flow freely into the duodenum, but flow back into the pancreatic duct, and the pressure in the pancreatic duct increases, leading to rupture of the pancreatic vesicles, and bile and pancreatic juice and activated pancreatic enzymes seep into the pancreatic parenchyma. The highly reactive pancreatic protease will “digest” itself and cause pancreatitis. How do I know if I have pancreatitis caused by gallstone disease? Patients in this category often present with sudden onset of severe abdominal pain in the upper and middle abdomen or slightly to the right, which may involve the back of the shoulder, and is often accompanied by nausea and vomiting. Patients may also have a moderate fever (around 38°C). If the disease develops further, the abdominal pain increases, the fever rises, the pancreatitis progresses to heavy, and the patient may also develop shock and respiratory failure, which are directly life-threatening. Examination at the hospital may reveal elevated serum amylase (>500 Soxhlet units), and blood leukocytes may also be elevated. In addition to detecting stones in the biliary system, ultrasound and CT examinations can also detect dilatation of the biliary system and determine the degree of pancreatic damage and exudation, which can help in the selection of treatment plans. Prevention of pancreatitis should start with the prevention of cholelithiasis. The International Conference on Gallstone Prevention has proposed three levels of gallstone prevention: primary prevention for people at risk who have not yet developed stones; secondary prevention for people who have stones but are asymptomatic; and tertiary prevention for patients with gallstone disease to prevent recurrence of stones after treatment. It should be said that the formation of cholelithiasis is closely related to people’s daily life style, now we will talk about some preventive measures that are closely related to people’s daily life. 1, diet With the improvement of people’s living standard, people’s intake of animal fat, protein and refined sugar food increased, fiber intake decreased, the cholesterol content in the bile increased, easy to form cholesterol crystals, resulting in a great increase in the incidence of cholesterol stones. However, there is no need to stay away from high cholesterol and high protein foods, because moderate amounts of high cholesterol and high protein foods are the best substances to promote the contraction of the gallbladder, which can promote the gallbladder to discharge stone bile in a timely manner, but help prevent cholesterol stones. In addition, vegetarians bile called β-glucuronidase activity is reduced, bilirubin can not be effectively degraded, the incidence of bile pigment stones and will be significantly higher. Therefore, it is important to pay attention to a balanced nutrition in daily life, a reasonable mix of meat and vegetables, and avoid large meat and oil foods. The following are some of the foods that can help prevent gallstone disease. Bamboo shoots contain a lot of crude fiber, in which lignin can combine with bile acid, fructic acid can absorb cholesterol and reduce the absorption of these stone-forming substances in the intestine; shiitake mushroom unique shiitake mushroom can effectively reduce the cholesterol content in the blood, mushroom polysaccharide can improve human immunity; deep-sea fish oil contains a lot of unsaturated fatty acids, can reduce the cholesterol and triglyceride content in the blood, Eskimos live in the ice and snow. Eskimos live in the ice and snow, eat high cholesterol and high protein animal food all year round, never eat vegetables and fruits, but almost no long gallstones, it may be related to their food contains a lot of deep-sea fish oil. In addition, nuts, bean food and citrus, etc. to prevent gallstone disease also has a certain role. 2, obese people obese bile cholesterol content is high, and obese people often lack of exercise, gallbladder contraction function is poor, so the incidence of gallstone disease is also higher than the general population. Therefore, obese people should pay attention to control the intake of high cholesterol and high protein food, increase exercise, and reduce the chance of gallstone disease. However, during weight loss, attention should be paid to the regularity of the diet. If the diet is irregular, often skipping breakfast, etc., the contractile function of the gallbladder will be impaired, which will also lead to the occurrence of gallstone disease. In addition, if you lose weight too quickly, the contractile function of the gallbladder will be impaired and gallstone disease will come to you. Some diet pills claim to lose 2-3 kg of weight per week, but in fact most of the weight lost is water rather than fat, which is not real weight loss. Generally speaking, losing 0.5-1 kg of body weight per week is safe and less likely to induce gallstone disease. And can lose 5-10% of body weight and long-term maintenance, can be considered satisfactory results. 3, personal hygiene Bile pigment stones are rare in Europe and the United States, and are common in China and Southeast Asian countries, because in these countries, biliary parasites and bacterial infections are more common, and roundworm eggs and bacteria can be used as the core of bile pigment stones, leading to the occurrence of bile pigment stones. Therefore, daily life should pay attention to personal hygiene, wash hands before and after meals, and try not to eat raw aquatic products. A survey found that 165 grams of drunken shrimp can be detected in 42 testicular schistosomes, that is, eat 2-3 drunken shrimp may be infected with testicular schistosomal larvae, and this larvae can survive in vinegar for more than 2 hours. As long as the “mouth off”, the probability of biliary tract infection is greatly reduced, and the incidence of bile pigment stones will also be greatly reduced. Estrogen can increase the concentration of cholesterol in bile, and long-term use of estrogen can lead to an increase in the incidence of cholelithiasis; the lipid-lowering drug Antomin has been proven to have lithogenic effects; multiple pregnancies cause changes in bile composition and gallbladder contraction dysfunction, which can also lead to an increase in the incidence of cholelithiasis; people who lack exercise have poor gallbladder contraction function, and the incidence of cholelithiasis will also increase. Attention should be paid to these factors as well. If you are already a gallstone patient, in order to avoid pancreatitis, you should take timely treatment measures for the following conditions: small stones in the gallbladder, because the diameter of the human gallbladder duct is about 0.2cm-0.4cm, and sometimes it is thickened, so these stones can easily enter the common bile duct through the cystic duct and become embedded in the lower end of the common bile duct, inducing pancreatitis. In addition, stones in the common bile duct and some intrahepatic bile duct stones also tend to migrate downward and induce pancreatitis, so cholecystectomy + choledochotomy or ERCP is recommended for these cases. If the stone in the gallbladder is only about one centimeter and is asymptomatic, it will not easily enter the common bile duct through the cystic duct and induce pancreatitis, and can be followed up for a period of time. Of course, if the stones are too large to cause gallbladder cancer or if you have a history of pancreatitis, that is a different story. Some data show that about 50% of asymptomatic gallstone patients will develop symptoms after 5-10 years of follow-up, and may also be complicated by pancreatitis, so daily life must also pay attention to the diet, eat less and try not to eat egg yolk, fish eggs and animal brain and other high cholesterol foods, cooking methods to minimize heavy oil frying, deep-frying, stir-frying, but mainly stewing, boiling, steaming; food should also contain more fiber and starch, such as millet The food should also contain more fiber and starch, such as millet, oats, etc.; to supplement protein, you can choose lean meat, fish and other low-cholesterol animal foods. You should also pay attention to regular check-ups at the hospital to observe the changes in the stones and treat them in time to avoid pancreatitis as much as possible.