What is the gallbladder?
A: In vertebrates, the gallbladder is a small hollow organ where bile is
stored.
Where is the gallbladder located?
A: In a shallow depression below the right lobe of the liver, which is grey
blue in life.
What is the gallbladder shaped like?
A: Like a pear, with its tip opening into the cystic duct.
The gallbladder is divided into what three sections?
A: The fundus, body, and neck.
The fundus is the rounded base, angled so that it faces
what?
A: The abdominal wall.
The body lies in a what?
A: A depression in the surface of the lower liver.
The neck tapers and is continuous with the cystic duct,
part of what?
A: The biliary tree.
The gallbladder varies in size, shape, and position
between what?
A: Different people.
Rarely, two or even three gallbladders may what?
A: Coexist, either as separate bladders draining into the cystic duct, or
sharing a common branch that drains into the cystic duct.
Additionally, the gallbladder may fail to what?
A: To form at all.
Bile is also called what?
A: Gall, needed for the digestion of fats in
food.
When food containing fat enters the digestive tract, it
stimulates the secretion of what?
A: Cholecystokinin (CCK) from I cells of the duodenum and jejunum.
In response to cholecystokinin, the gallbladder does
what?
A: It rhythmically contracts and releases its contents into the common bile
duct.
Bile consists primarily of what?
A: Water and bile salts, and acts as a means of eliminating bilirubin, a
product of hemoglobin metabolism, from the body.
The bile that is secreted by the liver and stored in
the gallbladder is not the same as what?
A: The bile that is secreted by the gallbladder.
Gallstones form when the bile is saturated, usually
with what?
A: Either cholesterol or bilirubin.
Most gallstones do not cause what?
A: Symptoms, with stones either remaining in the gallbladder or passed along
the biliary system.
When symptoms occur what is often felt?
A: Severe "colicky" pain in the upper right part of the abdomen.
If the stone blocks the gallbladder what might result?
A: Inflammation known as cholecystitis.
If the stone lodges in the biliary system what might
occur?
A: Jaundice.
What might occur if the stone blocks the pancreatic
duct?
A: Pancreatitis.
Gallstones are diagnosed using what?
A: Ultrasound.
When a symptomatic gallstone occurs, it is often
managed by doing what?
A: Waiting for it to be passed naturally.
Given the likelihood of recurrent gallstones, what is
often considered?
A: Surgery to remove the gallbladder.