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  • Q&A with Australian Health Practitioners

    What happens if a gallstone causes a blockage?

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  • Dr Sameer Mihrshahi

    General Surgeon, Laparoscopic Surgeon, Upper GI Surgeon (Abdominal)

    I completed my undergraduate medical degree with Honours at the University of Sydney in 1997, and trained in General Surgery in Newcastle and Sydney obtaining … View Profile

    If a gallstone does not budge and blockage of the outflow of the gallbladder continues, chemicals within the bile in the gallbladder start causing irritation of the lining of the gallbladder. The pain then tends to change, become sharper in nature, and moves to the right-hand side of the upper abdomen (where the gallbladder is) as a different set of nerves are now being irritated and the brain can localise where the problem is. There is usually nausea, vomiting and a fever, and the pain may radiate around to the region of the right scapula (shoulder blade). This is called acute cholecystitis. If a stone is caught in the bile duct, there are generally 3 types of problems that can be caused: (1) Painful obstructive jaundice (2) Cholangitis (infection in the bile duct) (3) Acute pancreatitis

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