Digestive Disorders

• Introduction
• Explanation
• Causes
• Surgical Treatment
• Non-Surgical Treatment
• Links


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Gallstones & Gallbladder Disease
  - Introduction

Introduction
This is brief information about the gallbladder, its function and what happens when it becomes diseased. If you still have questions, ask your doctor for more information.

What does the gallbladder do?
The gallbladder is a small pear-shaped sac, attached to the underside of the liver. The bile duct is a tube that carries bile from the liver to the duodenum. When the patient is fasting, the lower end of the bile duct closes and bile back-flows into the gall bladder. There it is concentrated by the gall bladder, absorbing the water in the bile. When a patient eats a fatty meal, the gall bladder squeezes out the bile to help absorb the fats. So the gallbladder stores and concentrates bile, which is made in the liver and plays a major part in the digestion of fat. Bile will still be present, after your gallbladder is removed.