Gallbladder Stones and Gallbladder Preservation Surgery

    Gallbladder stones are very common clinically, and we often encounter patients who consult about gallbladder stone surgery in outpatient clinics and websites. Gallbladder stones are often asymptomatic in early stages, and some patients even have no obvious discomfort throughout their lives, which is called asymptomatic gallbladder stones. In clinical practice, we often encounter patients who have stomach discomfort and come to the clinic thinking it is a stomach problem, but through examination, they are found to have gallbladder stones. If the gallbladder stone is embedded in the cystic duct or discharged into the common bile duct, it may cause an acute biliary colic attack, manifested as right upper abdominal cramps, nausea, vomiting, fever and other discomfort, and if induced acute pancreatitis abdominal pain may be heavier and blood and urine amylase elevated.    2, gallbladder stone diagnosis: with repeated right upper abdominal distension, pain (especially after greasy diet) should come to the hospital, gallbladder stones can be diagnosed by abdominal ultrasound, through ultrasound can understand the size, number, morphology of gallbladder stones, intrahepatic bile duct and common bile duct dilatation, etc., if necessary, feasible abdominal CT examination.    3.Treatment of gallbladder stones: If gallbladder stones are asymptomatic, patients can be reviewed regularly without surgery, but since long-term stimulation of gallbladder stones can induce the occurrence of gallbladder cancer, surgery should be considered for the following asymptomatic gallbladder stones: gallbladder stones >2.5cm in diameter; medical history >5 years; thickened gallbladder wall or porcelain-like gallbladder; diabetic patients; combined gallbladder adenomatous polyps ; gallbladder stones in children, etc.    For patients with symptomatic gallbladder stones, surgical treatment should be considered. The current standard procedure for the treatment of gallbladder stones is laparoscopic cholecystectomy, which is minimally invasive, with only 3-4 Troca puncture holes in the abdomen, no obvious surgical scars after surgery, short postoperative hospital stay and quick recovery, and has great advantages over traditional open surgery.    However, in recent years, some hospitals at home and abroad have carried out a large number of biliary stone removal operations, and the recurrence of stones is not as high as reported in the literature through follow-up observation, but there is no large sample size yet. However, there is no prospective multicenter study. I personally believe that biliary surgery should not be accepted or rejected blindly, but should be applied selectively according to the patient’s specific condition: biliary surgery can be used for young patients, patients with a desire for biliary preservation, good contractile function of the gallbladder, non-hairy gallbladder wall, and single or small number of stones, but not for elderly patients, patients with atrophy of the gallbladder, poor contractile function, thickened and hairy gallbladder wall, multiple stones and sediment-like stones, etc. are not suitable for biliary surgery.