The purpose of this page is to give you an overview of gallstones and gall bladder surgery so that you are well informed prior to your visit. Keyhole gallbladder
surgery or ‘Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy’ is today the -gold standard- treatment
for gallstones and gall bladder symptoms. Although the surgery is sometimes considered minor, this is not the
case and severe complications, although very uncommon, can occur.

1. The only effective treatment for gall stones is surgery to remove the gallbladder.
2. We remove the gallbladder and not just the stones because if you just remove the stones, more stones will form in the following months or years – back to square one!
3. You will get on perfectly well without your gallbladder.
4. Removal of the gallbladder is usually done with keyhole surgery but sometimes this is not possible and a large incision is necessary. This is for your safety.
5. You will probably be in hospital just one night and back to work in 7–10 days if keyhole surgery is possible; if not 4–5 days in hospital, 3–4 weeks off work.
6. Complications can occur. The main one is accidental damage to the bile duct during surgery. There is only about one chance in 1500 of this happening with an experienced surgeon.
7. Choose your surgeon carefully and make sure you ask everything you want to know before surgery is performed.