The Gallbladder is a small pouch-like organ that stores the bile that is produced by the liver. Bile is a digestive fluid, also referred to as gall is required for the digestion of fats in food. Bile flows through little vessels into the larger internal organ ducts and ultimately through the cystic duct (parts of the biliary tree) into the bladder, where it is stored.
What is Gallbladder Stone disease?
Gallstones are stone-like deposits that form in the gallbladder, The common types of gallstones are cholesterol, black pigment, and brown pigment.
Gallstones develop when crystals form in bile, the liquid stored in the gallbladder. Over time, the crystals can grow into hard, stone-like lumps.
Bile consists of a number of components, including cholesterol, bile salts, bilirubin, and water. If your gallbladder fails to empty properly, or if the cholesterol, bile salts, or bilirubin become too concentrated, you may develop gallstones.
Symptoms of Gallbladder Stone disease
Nausea or vomitings
Nausea and physiological reactions are common symptoms of all kinds of bladder issues. However, solely chronic bladder illness might cause biological process issues, such as acid reflux and gas.
Jaundice
Yellow-tinted skin, or jaundice, is also a symbol of gallstones or blocks within the common channel. The common channel is the channel that leads from the bladder to the little gut.
Pain
The most common symptom of a gallbladder problem is a sharp pain in the mid-to upper-right section of your abdomen. It will be delicate and intermittent, or it can be quite severe and frequent. In some cases, the pain will begin to radiate to different areas of the body, as well as the rear and chest.
Fever or Chills
Chills or an unexplained fever might signal that you may suffer from some degree of gall bladder infection. If you have got an infection, you need treatment before it worsens and becomes dangerous.
The association of gallbladder stone disease with erectile dysfunction
It is reported that the risk of organic erectile dysfunction is high in the patients with gallbladder stone disease and it is even more in the patients who has undergone cholecystectomy (Removel of gallbladder). But the risk of psychogenic Erectile Dysfunction is comparabley low in the gallbladder stone disease patients.
Gallbladder stone disease is closely associated with cardiovascular disease due to shared risk factors in common, such as metabolic disorders, and shared pathogenesis, such as cholesterol deposition for the gallstone formation and atherosclerotic plaque formation.
Erectile dysfunction has been regarded as a marker for the severity of cardiovascular disease since they share common risk factors and also the fat deposition in the arteries reduce the blood flow to the penis causing organic erectile dysfunction.
Moreover, psychological stress is associated with gallbladder stone disease due to liability to bile stasis and impaired gallbladder emptying. Similarly, psychological stress is associated with the development of organic and psychogenic erectile dysfunction.
Therefore, gallbladder stone disease and erectile dysfunction share many risk factors, either constitutional disorders or psychological factors.
Treatments for Erectile Dysfunction in men with Gall Bladder Stone Disease
Surgery
Surgery to remove the gallbladder is the most common treatment for symptomatic gallstones. ‘Cholecystectomy’ – the term that doctors use for gallbladder removal – can be performed through open surgery or ‘keyhole’ laparoscopic surgery. Because your gallbladder is not an essential organ, it can be removed with few adverse effects.
An open cholecystectomy is a procedure where the gallbladder is removed through a large single incision in the abdomen. Open surgery is generally only used in people who are not suitable candidates for laparoscopic surgery.
Extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL)
Extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy (ESWL) is another form of non-surgical intervention. It involves the generation of shock waves outside the body. Ultrasound is used to locate the gallstones, and the shock waves are directed at them until they shatter. Following lithotripsy, most people need to take medication to dissolve the fragments.
This treatment is generally only used for single, small gallstones because it is not effective for multiple or large stones. As with any treatment that leaves the gallbladder in place, there is a risk of recurrent stones.