Word parts
What it means
Gallstones form when bile, the digestive fluid stored in the gallbladder, has too much cholesterol or bilirubin. Many people have no symptoms. A stone that blocks the gallbladder's outlet causes sudden pain in the upper right abdomen, often after a fatty meal, that may spread to the right shoulder or back. Inflammation of the gallbladder is cholecystitis, and removal is a cholecystectomy.
At a glance
| Spanish | colelitiasis |
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Related terms
jaundice
Yellow color of the skin, the whites of the eyes and other tissues from too much bilirubin in the blood.
digestive system
The organs that take in food, break it down, absorb nutrients and get rid of waste.