Biliary colic
| DiseasesDB | 2533 |
|---|---|
| eMedicine | med/224 |
Biliary colic is when a gallstone blocks either the common bile duct or the duct leading into it from the gallbladder.
Symptoms and complication
This condition causes crescendos of severe pain in the right upper abdomen and sometimes through to the upper back and/or right shoulder. The pain relates to the obstruction of the passage of bile and can be associated with eating fatty foods. There is usually an inflammatory component to the pain as the characteristic colic is not completely relieved between crescendos.
Other symptoms are
Another more serious complication is total blockage of the bile duct which leads to jaundice, which if it is not corrected naturally or by a surgical procedure can be fatal as it causes liver damage.
Treatment
The only long term solution is the removal of the gall bladder.
External links
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
