Gallbladder Surgery - Cholecystectomy
Gallbladder Surgery - Cholecystectomy
Surgery to remove the gallbladder is the most common way to treat symptomatic gallstones. (Asymptomatic gallstones usually do not need treatment.) Each year more than 500,000 Americans have gallbladder surgery. The surgery is called cholecystectomy.
 The most common operation is called laparoscopic cholecystectomy. For this operation, the surgeon makes several tiny incisions in the abdomen and inserts surgical instruments and a miniature video camera into the abdomen. The camera sends a magnified image from inside the body to a video monitor, giving the surgeon a closeup view of the organs and tissues. While watching the monitor, the surgeon uses the instruments to carefully separate the gallbladder from the liver, ducts, and other structures. Then the cystic duct is cut and the gallbladder removed through one of the small incisions.
Because the abdominal muscles are not cut during laparoscopic surgery, patients have less pain and fewer complications than they would have had after surgery using a large incision across the abdomen. Recovery usually involves only one night in the hospital, followed by several days of restricted activity at home.
 If the surgeon discovers any obstacles to the laparoscopic procedure, such as infection or scarring from other operations, the operating team may have to switch to open surgery. In some cases the obstacles are known before surgery, and an open surgery is planned. It is called "open" surgery because the surgeon has to make a 5- to 8-inch incision in the abdomen to remove the gallbladder. This is a major surgery and may require about a 2- to 7-day stay in the hospital and several more weeks at home to recover. Open surgery is required in about 5 percent of gallbladder operations.
The most common complication in gallbladder surgery is injury to the bile ducts. An injured common bile duct can leak bile and cause a painful and potentially dangerous infection. Mild injuries can sometimes be treated nonsurgically. Major injury, however, is more serious and requires additional surgery.
 If gallstones are in the bile ducts, the physician (usually a gastroenterologist) may use endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) to locate and remove them before or during the gallbladder surgery. In ERCP, the patient swallows an endoscope--a long, flexible, lighted tube connected to a computer and TV monitor. The doctor guides the endoscope through the stomach and into the small intestine. The doctor then injects a special dye that temporarily stains the ducts in the biliary system. Then the affected bile duct is located and an instrument on the endoscope is used to cut the duct. The stone is captured in a tiny basket and removed with the endoscope.
Occasionally, a person who has had a cholecystectomy is diagnosed with a gallstone in the bile ducts weeks, months, or even years after the surgery. The two-step ERCP procedure is usually successful in removing the stone.
Source: National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
March 2002.
Medical Illustrations & Medical Animations Copyright © 2010 Nucleus Medical Art. All Rights Reserved. |
|
|
|
 |
|
| What attorneys say about MLA and The Doe Report: |
"MLA's graphics bring the defense to the table sooner and with more money."
Mark Clayton Choate
Choate, Guinn & Springmeyer
Maui, HI |
"The Doe Report's Do-It-Yourself Exhibits program enables easy customization of complex medical exhibits at a reasonable expense and in a timely manner. ...custom medical exhibits are no longer an unthinkable luxury, but a routine necessity."
Jack S. Cohen
Levy, Angstreich, Finney, Baldante & Coren
Philadelphia, PA |
"Our firm has achieved multiple eight figure settlements and verdicts over the past ten years. Medical Legal Art has been there with us on every case."
Thomas C. Jones
Davis, Bethune & Jones, L.L.C.
Kansas City, MO |
"Every case can benefit from their excellent work and we unqualifiedly recommend their services. They are the best!"
Chris Otorowski
Morrow and Otorowski
Bainbridge Island, WA |
"The jury returned a verdict for $800,000.00 and I'm sure we would not have done so well if not for the visualizations we were able to put forth with your assistance."
Daniel J. Costello
Proner & Proner
New York, NY |
"Our trial resulted in a $16 million verdict for my client, and the medical illustrations definitely played a key role in the trial."
David Cutt
Brayton Purcell
Salt Lake City, UT |
"We are very pleased with a verdict exceeding $297,000.00, far in excess of the $20,000.00 initially offered by the defendant. The medical demonstrative evidence provided by [MLA] was an asset we could not have afforded to have been without."
Todd J. Kenyon, Esq.
Minneapolis, MN |
"It is with great enthusiasm that I recommend Medical Legal Art. One medical malpractice case... settled for 3.75 million and the other... settled for 6.9 million. We consider the artwork provided by MLA to have been invaluable in helping us to successfully conclude these cases."
E. Marcus Davis, Esq.
Davis Zipperman, Krischenbaum & Lotito
Atlanta, GA |
"I would not want to try a case without them."
Lambros Y. Lambrou
McHUGH & LAMBROU, LLP
New York, NY |
"The speed and cost-effectiveness of [The Doe Report] made it the perfect tool for our purposes. We will use The Doe Report again in future cases."
Andrew Needle
Needle Gallagher & Ellenberg, P.A.
Miami, FL |
"My clients have won over $60 million in jury verdicts and I can't recall a case which did not include one of your medical exhibits. Keep up the great work!"
Kenneth J. Allen
Allen Law Firm
Valparaiso, IN |
"...after we sent a copy of your illustration to the defendants, with a copy to the insurance company, they increased their offer by an additional million dollars and the case was settled for $1,900,000.00. I appreciate your help!"
O. Fayrell Furr, Jr.
Furr, Henshaw & Ohanesian
Myrtle Beach, SC |
"For $400, less than one blow-up by one of The Doe Report's competitors, I got four first-rate exhibits in less than a day."
Tracy Kenyon Lischer
Pulley Watson King & Lischer
Durham, NC |
|
|
|
