Gall Bladder

Gall bladder conditions :: Gall bladder stones :: Bile duct stones :: Gall stone surgery

Bile Duct Stones

Bile duct stones are the presence of stones in the common bile duct (a small tube like structure that carry bile from the gallbladder to the intestine). The condition is also known as choledocholithiasis. The stones consists bile pigments, calcium, or cholesterol salts.

Bile duct stones causes sharp, intermittent pain in the right upper or middle upper abdomen, fever, loss of appetite, yellowing of skin and eyes (jaundice), nausea, and vomiting usually occur when the stone blocks the common bile duct.

These stones cause biliary colic, a very specific type of pain that occurs when the bile duct is partially obstructed. Duct dilation, jaundice (yellow discoloration of skin and eyes) and eventually cholangitis, a bacterial infection of the common bile duct that occurs when there is complete obstruction of the duct. Abdominal computed tomography (CT) or ultrasound scan are used to diagnose bile duct stones.

Treatment options to remove these stones include surgery, Endoscope retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP), and called sphincterotomy.

ERCP: is a technique that combines the use of endoscopy and fluoroscopy to diagnose to treat the conditions of bile ducts. The success rate of the surgery is 85 to 90%.

Sphincterotomy: It is new endoscopic technique developed to examine and treat abnormalities of the bile ducts, pancreas and gall bladder. It is the surgical cutting of the muscle in the common bile duct.