Read article About the gallbladder
This page is about the gallbladder. You can find information about
The gallbladder
The gallbladder is a small, hollow, pear-shaped pouch in your body. It lies underneath the right side of your liver, in your upper abdomen. The main purpose of the gallbladder is to concentrate and store your bile. Bile is a fluid made in the liver that helps you to digest fats in your small bowel (intestine). It is made from cholesterol, water, bilirubin and bile salts. Bilirubin is what gives bile its greenish colour.
Your gallbladder is not an essential part of your body. You can live without it. So after having it taken out, you are still able to digest your food.
The lymph nodes
Like all other parts of the body, the area containing the gallbladder also contains lymph nodes. You may hear these called lymph glands. They are small bean shaped glands that are part of the lymphatic system.
Removing and checking lymph nodes is part of staging the cancer. The stage of a cancer is important because it helps doctors to decide the most suitable treatment.
You can view and print the quick guides for all the pages in the about gallbladder cancer section.
The gallbladder is a small, hollow, pear-shaped pouch about 8cm long and about 2.5cm wide. It lies underneath the right side of your liver, in your upper abdomen. Two tubes connect to the gallbladder - the small and large bile ducts. Together these make up the common bile duct. The gallbladder and bile ducts form your biliary tract. You may hear your doctor call this the biliary tree or biliary system.
The gallbladder concentrates and stores bile. Bile is a fluid made in the liver. It is made from cholesterol, water, bilirubin and bile salts. Bilirubin is what gives bile its greenish colour. It comes from the breakdown of used red blood cells.
Bile helps you to break down (digest) fats in your small bowel (intestine). When you eat fatty foods, the fats are broken down (digested) in your stomach and intestines. To get the bile to the food in your gut, your body either
- Releases it from the liver and down the bile ducts, straight into your small intestine
- Stores it first in your gallbladder, which releases bile into your common bile duct as you need it
Your gallbladder is not an essential part of your body. You can live without it. So after having it taken out, you are still able to digest your food.
Cancer of the gallbladder is quite a rare disease in the UK. You may hear it called biliary cancer.
Like all other parts of the body, the area containing the gallbladder also contains lymph nodes. You may hear these called lymph glands. They are small bean shaped glands that are part of the lymphatic system. They help to control infection by filtering the lymphatic fluid. They remove anything foreign to the body, including bacteria and viruses. The lymph nodes are often the first place that cancer cells reach when they break away from a tumour. So surgeons usually remove them during cancer surgery and send them to the lab where a specialist called a pathologist examines them closely for cancer cells.
Removing and checking lymph nodes is part of staging the cancer. The stage of a cancer is important because it helps doctors to decide the most suitable treatment. There is more about the lymph glands and the lymphatic system in the section about your body.
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