Your gall bladder is an important part of your body. Even though it is very small, the gall bladder stores bile which are then released into your intestine to help with your digestion. This bow tie- shaped organ can have its problems as well. Gallstones are the gall bladder' s problem. To be more effective in treating this problem, in many of the cases the gall bladder must be removed. Laparoscopic surgery is the operation used to remove your gall bladder.

Because gallstones form in your gall bladder, they can block the flow of bile. The blockage of the gall bladder by these small stones has as symptoms: fever, jaundice and pain. Jaundice means that your skin turns yellowish. Because your body can function very well without a gall bladder, treatment in gallstones cases is surgery. However, surgery is only used for gallstones that cause symptoms and prevent the flow of bile from your gall bladder. The gall bladder surgery is very simple and painless. Keyhole surgery is more often used in gall bladder cases, but there is also a relatively small number of patients that need an open surgery fro their gall bladder problem. A cut about 20 centimeters long is made in your abdomen, if you are having an open gall bladder removal. Your doctor, after examination of your gall bladder case, will tell you which of the two procedures suites you best. However, as I have said before, the most common procedure is the laparoscopic method. There are also some other alternatives to

surgery in gall bladder case, but this depends on the type of symptoms that you have.

For example, if the gall bladder symptoms that you are experiencing are very mild, or you can not have surgery because of other medical conditions, here is what you can do:

- take drugs which can help dissolve the gallstones that you have in your gall bladder; this alternative, unfortunately is not suited for all the gall bladder patients and the treatment can last even longer than two years;

- ultrasound procedures can also be used to break up gallstones; this is mostly used in the gall bladder cases where the patient only has a small number of gallstones;

- gallstones can also be removed without any gall bladder surgery; doctors just need to enlarge your bile duct and with the help of some special tools, remove the gallstones that are causing the problems;

So, as you see, there are many options to treating your gall bladder problems, besides surgery. However, in almost ninety percent of the gall bladder problems, surgery is used because it gives the best results.