Adriano Jorge Hospital Foundation warns about preventing gallstones

Care

Gallbladder removal surgery represented 20.1% of the total procedures performed in the unit in 2023

Manaus (AM) – Around 1,657 gallstone removal surgeries were performed in 2023 by the Fundação Hospital Adriano Jorge (FHAJ). Faced with this scenario, the State Department of Health (SES-AM), through the institution, warns about the care that the population must take to avoid the disease.

This number represents 20.1% of the total of all procedures performed by the unit in the same period (8,253 surgeries). The unit’s CEO, doctor Ayllon Menezes de Oliveira, highlighted that having healthy habits helps to avoid the disease.

“People who have a habit of eating a lot of fatty foods are more likely to develop not only gallstones, but also pain and inflammation of the gallbladder. So, the ideal is to review your eating habits and include foods with more fiber in your diet. The Adriano Jorge Hospital Foundation has a team prepared to care for these patients with the disease who are cared for by the SUS, but prevention will always be the best path”,

highlighted.

The disease is mainly caused by an unhealthy diet, rich in fats and carbohydrates and low in fiber. Having a sedentary lifestyle, that is, without physical exercise, and factors such as diabetes, hypertension, obesity, genetic predisposition and smoking also contribute to the appearance of gallstones.

The gallbladder is the organ responsible for storing bile (liquid produced by the liver that helps digest fats in the intestine). The formation of stones also occurs due to little water intake, as explained by the digestive tract surgeon who works at FHAJ, doctor Sidney Chalub.

“Low water intake causes the bilirubin crystals in the bile to clump together and form stones. Initially, you can even find biliary sludge, then this sludge evolves into the formation of stones, which is a natural evolution and the treatment is surgical”,

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Diagnosis and symptoms

The diagnosis is made via ultrasound and the surgical procedure is the recommended treatment, whether through open surgery or videolaparoscopy, a modern technique that is less invasive to the patient, both performed at FHAJ. In this case, the organ must be removed.

According to medical literature, there are cases in which the disease does not manifest symptoms, but in other cases it causes intense pain.

“If you ate some fatty food and start to feel pain under the rib, on the right side, which can go to the back, look for the basic unit where the diagnosis is made through ultrasound. It is an easy test to acquire online, it is not painful and does not cause any problems for people. If suspected, ultrasound makes the diagnosis with certainty,” said Chalub.

Chalub said.

The myth of vitamins

Still according to the doctor, the statement circulating on social media that people who have had their gallbladder removed are false is false.

“There’s no vitamin problem, it’s a myth. Some people who have their gallbladder removed may experience diarrhea when they eat some fatty foods, especially foods related to milk and cheese. Now there is no interference with vitamins, because bile is produced in the liver and stored in the gallbladder. What happens? It just won’t be stored in the gallbladder, but it falls directly into the intestine. There will be no deficiency in vitamins A, D, K and E. There is no vitamin deficiency related to gallbladder removal,”

clarified.

*With information from consultancy

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