1. What's the Best Way?
If ever your doctor suspects gallstones either while checking for other conditions or when you complain, he is likely to do an ultrasound exam--the most effective test for gallstones. The ultrasound technician moves a hand-held device over the abdomen to send sound waves toward the gallbladder. As the sound waves bounce off the gallbladder, liver and other organs, their echoes make electrical impulses, creating a picture of the gallbladder on a monitor. The ultrasound waves bouncing off the gallstones can show their location as well as swollen bile ducts. With endoscopic ultrasound, the specialist can scan for developing gallstones and abnormal changes in the pancreatic or biliary ducts. Your physician might then order specific blood tests to check for underlying liver or pancreatic damage.
2. CT Scan and Cholescintigraphy
You may be advised to go in for a computerized tomography (CT) scan. The CT scan is a noninvasive X-ray that produces cross-section images of the body. The test can show the gallstones or even if there is an infection and rupture of the gallbladder or bile ducts.
In another type of scan called cholescintigraphy, you may be injected with a small amount of harmless radioactive material that is absorbed by the gallbladder. As the gallbladder contracts during stimulation, your doctor can diagnose any abnormal contraction or obstruction of the bile ducts.
3. Invasive Way to Identify Gallstones
Guiding a long, flexible, lighted tube with a camera at one end down your throat and into your stomach and duodenum, your physician may be able to locate and remove gallstones in the bile ducts. In this procedure, called Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) in medical parlance, your physician can diagnose and capture the gallstones for removal using an endoscope. You will be under a sedative or anesthesia as the doctor checks within using a special dye to brighten the ducts so they are visible on X-rays. If needed, he may use a second endoscope for enhanced ERCP.
4. Check Your Digestive and Cardiovascular Health
Identifying a single cause is difficult. Anything from too much cholesterol or a pigment called bilirubin in the bile or inadequate bile salts to improper emptying of the gallbladder can cause gallstones. Liver cirrhosis, biliary tract infection and genetic blood disorders such as sickle cell anemia generating too much bilirubin can raise the risk of gallstones. Researchers say there is a genetic component involved.
Even diets high in fat and cholesterol and low in fiber have been shown to cause gallstones. Female sex hormones during pregnancy, birth control pills and obesity are some of the causes in women developing gallstones. But "crash diets" and rapid weight loss is no answer. It can only increase risk.
If you are over the age of 60, it is more likely than not you have a higher risk of gallstones as the body generates more cholesterol into bile. It appears to some researchers, therefore, that excessive fat and cholesterol is the root cause.
