What are Gallstones?

Why do we get gallstones?
20 million Americans have gallstones and the incidence is on the rise!
Even children are more likely now than ever to have gallstones and we frequently see children with abdominal pain and gallstones in our emergency rooms and clinics.
First question to ask...what are gallstones?
If you like this content sign up for the CITIZENSURGEON community!
citizensurgeon.co/signup
MUST HAVE SURGERY BOOKS
Sabiston's Textbook of Surgery citizensurgeon.co/Sabiston
Moore's Clinically Oriented Anatomy citizensurgeon.co/Moore
Netter's Anatomical Atlas citizensurgeon.co/Netter
Schwartz Principles of Surgery citizensurgeon.co/Schwartz
Fischer's Mastery of Surgery citizensurgeon.co/Mastery
Zollinger's Atlas of Surgical Operations citizensurgeon.co/Zollinger
Top Knife (MUST MUST HAVE) citizensurgeon.co/topknife
MY FAVORITE SURGERY BIOGRAPHY
The Puzzle People (Thomas Starzl) citizensurgeon.co/ThePuzzlePe...
There are a few different types including those due to an imbalance of cholesterol and those from increased red blood cell turnover creating an imbalance in bilirubin.
If you're going to take care of patients with abdominal pain and symptoms from the gallbladder, including symptomatic cholelithiasis pr acute pancreatitis it's incredibly important that you understand gallstones.
We're going to cover a few clinical cases as well and at the bottom of the description I'll put the answers so you can check yourself!
Check out these AMAZING timestamps and fast forward if you need to:
Start 00:00
What are gallstones? 01:45
Why do gallstones form? 04:25
What is the solubility triangle? 11:00
What are the risk factors for gallstones? 12:30
Other types of gallstones? 14:48
REFERENCES
Another great video review - ‪@osmosis‬ Gallstones citizensurgeon.co/Osmosisgall...
Diet and Gallstones citizensurgeon.co/GallstonesDiet
Patient Decision Making and Gallstones citizensurgeon.co/PatientDeci...
SOME RECENT READS
The Miracle Morning (Hal Elrod) - citizensurgeon.co/MiracleMorning
Atomic Habits (James Clear) - citizensurgeon.co/AtomicHabits
BE MY FRIEND
Sign up and join the CITIZENSURGEON Community: citizensurgeon.co/signup​​
My Website: www.citizensurgeon.com​​
Instagram: citizensurgeon.co/instagram​​
Twitter: citizensurgeon.co/twitter​​
Koji: citizensurgeon.co/Koji​​
WHO AM I?
I'm Dr. Erik Pearson, FACS and I am a board certified pediatric surgeon living in Las Vegas. I make surgical education videos on all topics in general surgery as well as talks on lifestyle design as a surgeon, book reviews, and studying effectively. I also write a weekly newsletter called the Saturday Six where I identify Six different discoveries of the week. You can get the weekly newsletter by signing up to the CITIZENSURGEON Community!
DISCLAIMER
While my aim is to help educate you for the ward, the surgical ICU, the operating room and your exams remember these videos are not a replacement for your reading, your medical school and residency preparation and most important your own decision making. If you have medical questions definitely consult a medical professional. Good luck and enjoy!
Affiliate Links - There are a few links in the description that may lead to a kickback to me to help support the channel.

[@cnkis]

Omg you are so smart!!! You’re like an encyclopedia. 😂 I’m a ortho/trauma nurse and I love watching your videos, it gives me so much more depth into what I already know. Thank you for sharing your knowledge 😀👍

[@citizensurgeon]

Love that so much! Thank you, this is the type of engagement that inspires me to make more!! Have a great weekend!

[@DrGYama]

Great content.

[@citizensurgeon]

Thanks so much!!

[@noraclark7677]

So I learned more new things here! I know that gall stones are very common in the adult population but had no idea that children were subject to them. Why is this becoming more common in the younger population? I had also never heard the word bilirubin until a couple of months when my great nephew had high bilirubin when he was born and had to have regular blood tests for the first few weeks. He is fine now thankfully!

[@citizensurgeon]

Thanks so much Nora! Happy to hear your nephew is ok and yes jaundice if infancy is common but usually self limiting with the exception of a few rare diseases like biliary atresia and others. I believe the gallstone rate in Children parallels childhood obesity so for children I highly recommend a healthy balanced diet and plenty of activity!

[@HaloHighlightz]

Can you a video on gallstones? Just diagnosed while looking into another issue. Friends who’ve had them say surgery asap but I don’t have any pain. Do I absolutely need surgery? Can they pass at home? Or is it possible that I can leave them alone and be fine?

[@citizensurgeon]

The current gold standard for symptomatic gallstones is surgery, a laparoscopic or robotic cholecystectomy. This is to avoid complications from gallstones like acute cholecystitis, pancreatitis or bile duct obstruction. Asymptomatic gallstones typically do not require surgery as many people have gallstones that do not cause any problems. Definitely talk to you doctor about these choices. Good luck!

[@HaloHighlightz]

@@citizensurgeon thank you, I appreciate the insight!