5-511.02:

Your gallbladder has been removed.

The gallbladder is in the top right part of the abdomen below the liver. The liver produces bile. The bile flows through bile ducts to the gallbladder and is stored there. When needed, the bile flows through another bile duct to the intestine. There, the bile helps to digest fats.

Even when someone no longer has a gallbladder, the liver continues to produce bile. But then the bile flows straight into the intestine. The bile cannot then be excreted from the gallbladder in large quantities when necessary. As a result, it may be harder to digest fats.

The operation involved opening your abdomen via an incision in your skin.

To remove the gallbladder, it is first detached from the liver. The blood vessels and the connection from the gallbladder to the bile duct are severed. The gallbladder can then be removed.

You have also had an operation on the bile duct through which the bile flows into the intestine. The operation involved cutting this duct open. This enables obstacles to be removed from the duct so that the bile can once more flow freely through the duct. Such obstacles may be gallstones, or growths in the bile duct, for instance. A tube is sometimes temporarily implanted into the bile duct. The bile can then drain through this tube and out to a bag.