GALLSTONE REMOVAL

Many thanks to Dr. Lesley Barron, MD, MSc, FRCSC for responding to this question following a recent post on gallstones

Gallstones can be found on an abdominal ultrasound done for other reasons- this is also called asymptomatic cholelithiasis (Stones are in the gallbladder but the person had no symptoms such as –pain, nausea, vomiting, etc).

It is usually recommended these stones be left alone if the patient is not having symptoms felt to be related to the gallbladder.

The risk of developing symptoms related to the gallbladder per year is about 0.5-1 %.  Put another way, if you take 100 people with gallstones which  are not causing problems only one of them per year (maximum) will develop symptoms and need to have the gallbladder removed.  So in 20 years, only 20 out of 100 of these people will need to have a cholecystectomy.

A lot of gallstones found this way will never cause any problems in the patient’s lifetime.  While having your gallbladder removed is a usually very safe operation, it is generally felt that there is more harm than benefit to removing gallstones before they cause symptoms.