Gallbladder Surgery (Cholecystectomy)
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- September 5, 2026
- 4 MINS READ
Patient Procedures
Understanding Gallbladder Surgery
Dealing with gallstones can cause severe, sudden pain that disrupts your life and eating habits. At St. Stephen’s Hospital, we routinely perform safe and highly effective gallbladder removals to relieve your pain and prevent serious complications, allowing you to eat and live comfortably again.
What is a Cholecystectomy?
A cholecystectomy is the surgical removal of the gallbladder—a small, pear-shaped organ located just below your liver on the upper right side of your abdomen. The gallbladder stores bile (a digestive fluid produced by the liver), but your body can digest food perfectly well without the gall bladder.
When and Why is it Needed?
The most common reason for this surgery is the presence of gallstones (solidified deposits of digestive fluid) that can cause pain, nausea, fever, jaundice. Your doctor will likely recommend a cholecystectomy if you experience:
- Biliary Colic: Severe, episodic pain in the upper right abdomen, often radiating to the back or right shoulder.
- Cholecystitis: Inflammation or dangerous infection of the gallbladder.
- Pancreatitis: Gallstones that migrate and block the pancreatic duct.
- Chronic digestive issues like nausea, vomiting, or jaundice (yellowing of the skin and eyes).
How Does the Procedure Work?
At St. Stephen’s Hospital, we prioritize minimally invasive techniques whenever possible. You will be placed under general anesthesia (fully asleep) for the duration of the surgery.
- Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy (Standard): The surgeon makes 3 to 4 tiny incisions in your abdomen. A small video camera and surgical tools are inserted. The gallbladder is carefully detached from the liver and bile ducts and removed through one of the small incisions. This takes about 1 to 2 hours.
- Open Cholecystectomy: Used rarely, typically only if there is severe scarring from previous surgeries or severe complications, requiring a single 5 to 7-inch incision under the right rib cage.
Risks and Complications
Gallbladder removal is one of the most commonly performed surgeries, but risks can include bile leaks into the abdomen, bleeding, or accidental injury to nearby structures like the common bile duct or intestines.
Recovery and Rehabilitation
- Hospital Stay: Laparoscopic gallbladder surgery typically involves roughly a three-day package at St. Stephen's. Open surgery, being more invasive, requires a longer hospital stay.
- The First Week: You may experience mild shoulder pain; this is a normal reaction to the carbon dioxide gas used to inflate your abdomen during laparoscopy.
- Returning to Routine: Laparoscopic patients usually return to normal activities and desk work within 7 to 10 days.
Life After Gallbladder Surgery (Diet & Lifestyle)
Living without a gallbladder is entirely safe. Bile will now flow directly from your liver into your small intestine.
- Dietary Adjustments: Introduce foods slowly. For the first month, eat smaller, more frequent meals and strictly avoid high-fat, greasy, or heavily processed foods, as these can cause temporary bloating, gas, or diarrhea while your body adjusts.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
For the first week or two after surgery, it is best to sleep on your back or on your left side. Avoid sleeping on your stomach or your right side (where the incisions are located) to prevent pressure and pain. Propping yourself up slightly with pillows can also help.
While there are medications that can dissolve certain types of cholesterol gallstones, they can take months or years to work, and stones frequently return once treatment stops. For symptomatic gallstones, surgical removal of the gallbladder remains the safest, most definitive treatment.
Start with clear liquids, then move to bland, low-fat foods like toast, rice, applesauce, and lean chicken. Avoid high-fat, fried, greasy, or highly processed foods for at least a month, as these can cause severe bloating, gas, and diarrhea while your digestive tract adjusts to lacking a gallbladder.
You will not feel pain during the procedure due to general anesthesia. During recovery, it is normal to experience abdominal soreness at the incision sites. Laparoscopic patients often experience mild shoulder pain for a day or two, which is a harmless side effect of the gas used to inflate the abdomen.
While removing an organ is technically a major surgical event, laparoscopic gallbladder removal (cholecystectomy) is one of the most routine and minimally invasive procedures performed today. Patients recover fully within a couple of weeks.