Gallbladder stones are a common condition affecting people of all ages. The incidence of gallstones is increasing due to intake of high calorie processed food snd sedentary lifestyle.
Many patients are detected with gallstones but they don’t have pain associated with them. Such persons may feel gas bloat, indigestion, increased frequency of stools and sometimes are totally asymptomatic. These people often approach the doctor and are confused whether to get surgery done for stones or not.
Traditional teaching says that people with asymptomatic gallstones donot require treatment and may be observed till they develop symptoms. However, in daily practise we observe that persons with asymptomatic stones can suddenly develop complications related to them without any prior warning. These complications may be due to sudden impact ion of a large stone at the gallbladder neck giving rise to severe pain or due to migration of stones into the bile duct leading to jaundice and pancreatitis. These complications are severe and sometime can even be life threatening. Therefore, we advocate early surgical treatment for all patients with gallbladder stones whether they have symptoms or not to prevent such complications from happening in the future.
In the present era, the laparoscopic surgery for gallbladder stones carries little morbidity and can be safely performed with a rapid recovery. Also, surgery for uncomplicated disease is far easier with better results than that for a complicated case. Thus, the points are in favour for early treatment without regard to symptoms.