- Procedure Time
1-2 hours - Anaesthesia
General - Overnight stay
3-5 nights - Recovery Time
6 weeks
What is Cholecystectomy?
Cholecystectomy is the surgical removal of the gallbladder with Laparoscopic Surgery.
What is Gallbladder?
The gallbladder is a pear-shaped organ located in the lower right part of the liver.
Its main job is to collect and concentrate bile, a digestive fluid produced by the liver. Bile is secreted after eating to aid digestion and travels through narrow and tubular channels (bile ducts) to the small intestine. Removal of the gallbladder does not cause digestive disorders in most people.
What is Laparoscopic Surgery?
It is the process of performing the operations on the abdominal skin through small holes without making large incisions.
What is Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy? How is it performed?
It is the process of removing the gallbladder. The procedure is done through several small punctures, rather than a single large incision. The laparoscope is a long, thin tube with a camera at the end. The surgeon performs the operation by watching the image reflected on this camera on the TV screen. The gallbladder is taken out of the abdomen through a small hole.
What Causes Gallbladder Problems?
Gallbladder problems are usually caused by the presence of gallstones. Gallstones are small, hard masses of bile salts and cholesterol in the gallbladder or duct.
It is not known why it develops in some people.
There is no known method to prevent gallstones.
These stones can block the flow of bile out of the gallbladder, causing the gallbladder to swell, causing abdominal pain, vomiting, indigestion, and occasionally fever.
If the gallstone blocks the main bile duct, jaundice may occur.
How to identify and treat these problems?
Ultrasound is often used to find gallstones.
In some more complex situations, other x-ray tests may be preferred to evaluate gallbladder disease.
Gallstones do not go away on their own. Some can be eliminated temporarily with medications or a diet to reduce fat intake.
The success rate of this treatment is low .
Surgical removal of the gallbladder is the safest and most time-efficient way to treat gallbladder disease.
What are the advantages of performing the surgery Laparoscopically?
Instead of a 10-15 cm incision, only four small openings are created in the abdomen.
Generally, patients have less pain after surgery.
Compared to patients who have had open gallbladder surgery, they recover more quickly.
Most patients are discharged within a day and can return to their normal activities more quickly.
What should be considered before the surgery?
At night before the surgery, you should not eat or drink anything. You can only use drugs that the surgeon says you can take with some water on the morning of the surgery.
Blood-thinning and anti-inflammatory drugs should be temporarily discontinued a few days or a week before surgery.
Dietary medications should not be taken for the two weeks before surgery.
Smoking should be quit.
How is the surgery performed laparoscopically?
General anesthesia is applied and the patient stays asleep throughout the surgery.
Using a cannula (a narrow, tube-shaped instrument), the surgeon enters the abdomen through the navel area.
The laparoscope (a small telescope) connected to a special camera is inserted through the cannula, so that the surgeon can see the patient's internal organs magnified on the television screen.
Other cannulas are inserted into the body so that the surgeon can carefully separate the gallbladder from the surrounding tissues and remove it using one of the openings.
Many surgeons use cholangiography to locate stones that may be found in the bile ducts.
If one or more stones are found in the common bile duct, the surgeon may remove them with a special endoscope, choose to remove them later with a second minimally invasive surgery, or convert the surgery open at that time to remove all the stones.
After the gallbladder is removed, the small incision is closed with sutures or tape.
What should be considered after Cholecystectomy?
Removal of the gallbladder is a serious abdominal surgery and there will be a certain level of pain afterwards. Nausea and vomiting are common conditions.
When fluids or diet are tolerated, the patient is discharged the day after or the next day of laparoscopic gallbladder surgery.
The activities depend on how the patient feels. The patient is asked to walk. He/She can take a shower the day after the surgery.
Various normal activities such as driving, climbing stairs, lifting weights or working can be resumed within a week.
The onset of fever, yellow skin or eyes, worsening abdominal pain, swelling, persistent nausea, vomiting, or discharge from the incision may indicate a complication. In such cases, you should contact your doctor.
Most patients can return to work within seven days after laparoscopic surgery, depending on the work they do.
It takes 4-6 weeks for those who have had open surgery to return to their normal activities.
You need to make an appointment with your surgeon for two weeks after the surgery.
When should you call your doctor?
Continuous fever above 39 degrees
Bleeding
Increasing abdominal swelling
Pain that drugs can't reduce
Persistent nausea and vomiting
Shaking / Feeling cold
Cough or shortness of breath
Purulent discharge from any incision, growing redness
Inability to eat anything liquid or solid