Understanding Cholelithiasis: Importance of Proper Diet and Professional Treatment

There are not a few people who suffer from indigestion without being able to enjoy spring season with seasonal foods and spring greens. In particular, if sudden right abdominal pain is accompanied by indigestion, deobloukham, you can suspect ‘cholelithiasis’, which causes stones in the gallbladder (gallbladder).

Cholelithiasis is a disease in which stones form in the biliary tract, which consists of the gallbladder, bile ducts, and liver. Gallstones are divided into cholesterol gallstones and pigment gallstones according to the composition, cholesterol gallstones are pure cholesterol stones and mixed stones, and pigment gallstones are divided into black stones and brown stones.

Factors that cause cholesterol gallstones include old age, westerners, genetic predisposition, high-fat diet, obesity, and pregnancy. Pigmented gallstones are considered risk factors for Asians, duodenal bile duct reflux, liver cirrhosis, and pancreatitis. Pigmented gallstones are relatively common in Korea.

Pain from cholelithiasis usually appears in the right upper abdomen, where the gallbladder is located. This pain is called biliary colic. The pain in the pit of the stomach or right upper stomach feels like it’s being squeezed, but it subsides on its own after a few hours. On the other hand, there are many cases that complain of simple indigestion, flatulence, or loss of appetite. Symptoms are more severe if the gallbladder is inflamed, such as a bacterial infection.

If fever or chills accompany the above symptoms, you should also keep in mind the possibility of cholecystitis or cholangitis, a complication of cholelithiasis. Most gallstones are often found incidentally, and 80% of them do not show any symptoms or complications, but some may have complications including cholecystitis.

Seran Hospital Surgery Director Yu Seon-kyung said, “Due to westernized eating habits, dyspepsia is frequent, and the number of patients with cholelithiasis, who have stones in the biliary tract, is increasing.” If you have abdominal pain that interferes with your life, you can consider surgical treatment.”

“Cholelithiasis cannot be treated with medication, and unlike urinary stones, gallstones are not broken by ultrasound,” he said. It does not work. Proper diet and professional treatment are important,” he added.