Gallbladder removal: How long is the typical stay in the hospital for it?

[NikPreviousAcct]

A friend of mine's mom was rushed to the hospital last night and has to have her gall bladder removed. Anyone know how risky the proceedure is, what the success/survival rate is, and how long the typical stay is?

 

[Electric Amish]

Actually, my wife is just getting ready to have this done.

Barring complications it's out-patient.

 

[KK]

My wife had it done, she only stayed couple hours until they wheel her off to the morgue. j/k

She really had it and it was only about 6 hours total if I remember correctly.

KK

 

[Borracho]

a girl from my highschool class died last year when her gallbladder got infected and burst.

 

[FoBoT]

these days they do it through a small hole (like 1/2 inch or smaller) remotely, so it is only like 1 day and recovery is only like 1 week

my mom had hers out when i was in high school (early 80's), she was in the hospital for almost a week and took about 1 month to recover

 

[Electric Amish]

Originally posted by: FoBoT
these days they do it through a small hole (like 1/2 inch or smaller) remotely, so it is only like 1 day and recovery is only like 1 week

my mom had hers out when i was in high school (early 80's), she was in the hospital for almost a week and took about 1 month to recover

Yeah, my wife just met with the surgeon today. He said they do most of it through the navel and make 2-3 tiny ~.5" incisions on the right side..

 

[Yossarian]

what does the gallbladder do? can't be much if you can recover fully after getting it removed.

 

[DrNoobie]

The surgery is laproscopic nowadays, as FoBoT said.
This is how it generally works:

A number of small abdominal incisions are made, allowing slender instruments access to the abdominal cavity.
A tube blowing a gentle stream of carbon dioxide gas is inserted. This is to separate the abdominal wall from the underlying organs.
The gall bladder is viewed on a TV monitor by the surgeon using a tiny TV camera attached to the laparoscope.
Special x-rays (cholangiograms) during the operation can check for gallstones wedged within the bile ducts.
The ducts and artery which service the gall bladder are clipped shut. These clips are permanent.
The gall bladder is cut free using either laser or electrocautery.
The gall bladder, along with its load of gallstones, is pulled out of the body through one of the abdominal incisions.
The instruments and the carbon dioxide gas are removed from the abdominal cavity. The incisions are sutured and covered with dressings.

Hospital stay is overnight with laproscopic, up to 8 days with open surgery. It has a high success rate with a low mortality rate. There's always a risk, but it's not a great as many other surgeries, especially if it's laproscopic.

Edit: According to a study done by Dr. Paul Yakshe, the operative mortality rate is less than 1% and full recovery is within 7 days with minimal scarring (laproscoptic surgery).

 

[DrNoobie]

Originally posted by: Yossarian
what does the gallbladder do? can't be much if you can recover fully after getting it removed.

The gall bladder stores bile produced by the liver until it is needed.

 

[Electric Amish]

Originally posted by: DrNoobie

Originally posted by: Yossarian
what does the gallbladder do? can't be much if you can recover fully after getting it removed.

The gall bladder stores bile produced by the liver until it is needed.

Yeah. The only side-effect of losing it is a loosening of stool during bowel movements.

 

[MomAndSkoorbaby]

My grandmother had hers out laproscopically and was home the same day.....

I work in a Surgical Intensive Care Unit and it is VERY rare that we have complications from gall bladder removal admitted to our unit.

 

[Ime]

My sister had it done. She lived.

 

[cyclistca]

I had mine taken out years ago with laproscopic procedure. I think I stayed at the hospital overnight then spent a week a home resting.

Now you can't even see where they cut into me to remove it.

 

[NikPreviousAcct]

Thanks for the info, folks. With being rushed to the hospital and my friend saying that her mom is in quite a bit of pain, I'm assuming they caught it just in time then. Does the fact that something was *about* to go horribly wrong before going to get care for it mean that the operation will take longer or that the hospital will have to keep her longer?

 

[ThePresence]

Originally posted by: Electric Amish

Originally posted by: DrNoobie

Originally posted by: Yossarian
what does the gallbladder do? can't be much if you can recover fully after getting it removed.

The gall bladder stores bile produced by the liver until it is needed.

Yeah. The only side-effect of losing it is a loosening of stool during bowel movements.

Really? I remember when my grandfather had it done he had to cut fats out of his diet. Maybe I'm just remembering wrong...

 

[hdeck]

my mom had it done. only took a few hours then she was home.

 

[hdeck]

Originally posted by: ThePresence

Originally posted by: Electric Amish

Originally posted by: DrNoobie

Originally posted by: Yossarian
what does the gallbladder do? can't be much if you can recover fully after getting it removed.

The gall bladder stores bile produced by the liver until it is needed.

Yeah. The only side-effect of losing it is a loosening of stool during bowel movements.

Really? I remember when my grandfather had it done he had to cut fats out of his diet. Maybe I'm just remembering wrong...

actually the doctors do tell you to cut down fats after you've had the procedure.

 

[DrNoobie]

Originally posted by: hdeck

Originally posted by: ThePresence

Originally posted by: Electric Amish

Originally posted by: DrNoobie

Originally posted by: Yossarian
what does the gallbladder do? can't be much if you can recover fully after getting it removed.

The gall bladder stores bile produced by the liver until it is needed.

Yeah. The only side-effect of losing it is a loosening of stool during bowel movements.

Really? I remember when my grandfather had it done he had to cut fats out of his diet. Maybe I'm just remembering wrong...

actually the doctors do tell you to cut down fats after you've had the procedure.

Yup, because the function of the bile stored in the gall bladder is to emulsify of fats from the intestines during the digestive process.

 

[NikPreviousAcct]

But bile doesn't disappear completely, right? I mean, the gallbladder doesn't manufacture bile, it just stores extra bile, right?

 

[DrNoobie]

Originally posted by: FFMCobalt
But bile doesn't disappear completely, right? I mean, the gallbladder doesn't manufacture bile, it just stores extra bile, right?

The liver produces bile, the gall bladder stores up to 72mL of bile, and when bile is needed it travels through the biliary system to the intestines. The body will still produce bile, but it won't be able to store up reserves.

 

[NikPreviousAcct]

Originally posted by: DrNoobie

Originally posted by: FFMCobalt
But bile doesn't disappear completely, right? I mean, the gallbladder doesn't manufacture bile, it just stores extra bile, right?

The liver produces bile, the gall bladder stores up to 72mL of bile, and when bile is needed it travels through the biliary system to the intestines. The body will still produce bile, but it won't be able to store up reserves.

Doesn't bile also cut down on the smell of stool and flatulants too?

 

[DrNoobie]

Originally posted by: FFMCobalt

Originally posted by: DrNoobie

Originally posted by: FFMCobalt
But bile doesn't disappear completely, right? I mean, the gallbladder doesn't manufacture bile, it just stores extra bile, right?

The liver produces bile, the gall bladder stores up to 72mL of bile, and when bile is needed it travels through the biliary system to the intestines. The body will still produce bile, but it won't be able to store up reserves.

Doesn't bile also cut down on the smell of stool and flatulants too?

Yes, because excessive fat in the stool causes it to reek, and since bile emulsifies fat, it decreases the rankness.

 

[NikPreviousAcct]

Originally posted by: DrNoobie

Originally posted by: FFMCobalt

Originally posted by: DrNoobie

Originally posted by: FFMCobalt
But bile doesn't disappear completely, right? I mean, the gallbladder doesn't manufacture bile, it just stores extra bile, right?

The liver produces bile, the gall bladder stores up to 72mL of bile, and when bile is needed it travels through the biliary system to the intestines. The body will still produce bile, but it won't be able to store up reserves.

Doesn't bile also cut down on the smell of stool and flatulants too?

Yes, because excessive fat in the stool causes it to reek, and since bile emulsifies fat, it decreases the rankness.

Ah! I didn't realize that it's the fat in the stool that causes the smell...

 

[burnedout]

I had the laproscopic procedure in Oct, '99 and went home the next day. A relative back east also had the same procedure and she went home the same day.

 

[Electric Amish]

Originally posted by: hdeck

Originally posted by: ThePresence

Originally posted by: Electric Amish

Originally posted by: DrNoobie

Originally posted by: Yossarian
what does the gallbladder do? can't be much if you can recover fully after getting it removed.

The gall bladder stores bile produced by the liver until it is needed.

Yeah. The only side-effect of losing it is a loosening of stool during bowel movements.

Really? I remember when my grandfather had it done he had to cut fats out of his diet. Maybe I'm just remembering wrong...

actually the doctors do tell you to cut down fats after you've had the procedure.

The doctor told my wife she didn't need to worry about changing her diet at all, might depend on your diet in the first place, though.