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Definition
By Mayo Clinic staff
Cholecystectomy (ko-lay-sis-TEK-tuh-me) is a surgical procedure to remove your gallbladder — a pear-shaped organ that sits just below your liver on the upper right side of your abdomen. Your gallbladder collects and stores bile — a digestive fluid produced in your liver.
Cholecystectomy may be necessary if you experience pain from gallstones that block the flow of bile. Cholecystectomy is a common surgery, and it carries only a small risk of complications. In most cases, you can go home the same day of your cholecystectomy.
Cholecystectomy is most commonly performed using a tiny video camera to see inside your abdomen and special surgical tools to remove the gallbladder. Doctors call this laparoscopic cholecystectomy.
- Feldman M, et al. Sleisenger & Fordtran's Gastrointestinal and Liver Disease: Pathophysiology, Diagnosis, Management. 8th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders Elsevier; 2006:1423.
- Patient information for laparoscopic gall bladder removal (cholecystectomy) from SAGES. Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons. http://www.sages.org/publication/id/PI11/. Accessed Oct. 31, 2008.
- Cholecystectomy. American College of Surgeons. http://www.facs.org/public_info/operation/cholesys.pdf. Accessed Oct. 31, 2008.
- Picco MF (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, Fla. Nov. 18, 2008.
