Gallstones Treatment

The treatment of gallstones depends on what you’re experiencing. If you’re asymptomatic but gallstones were visualized through an ultrasound, you generally wouldn’t need any surgery. However, removal of the gallbladder called cholecystectomy is necessary for people with hemolytic anemia or who are at risk for gallbladder cancer.

Non-Surgical Treatments

There is no reliable medication that can help dissolve your gallstones. Cholesterol stones may respond to dissolution therapy, but this takes a long time and they can form again once the medications are stopped.

Surgical Treatment

In the case of symptomatic gallstones, your specialist may recommend surgical removal of the gallbladder. This surgery, called cholecystectomy, can be done through the laparoscopic method.

Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy

3-Port Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy

This procedure is relatively less painful and cosmetically better compared to the standard laparoscopic cholecystectomy. The first port is used for camera access at the umbilicus, with another 2 ports as working ports. With this procedure, the ports are either reduced in number or in size; for example, the length of the cuts (or incisions) can be reduced from 10mm to 3-5 mm. Patients benefit from only 3 ports (instead of the usual 4 ports) with less pain and having a smaller 3-5 mm scars only, and scar minimisation.

Benefits of 3-Port Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy

Less painful procedure
Only 3 small cuts of 3-10mm each are made
Cosmetically better than open surgery
Speedy recovery , usually a patient can return to normal activities within a few days
In some cases, patients may even return home the same day after surgery

Single-Port Laparoscopy Surgery

Single-port laparoscopic surgery is an option for patients who wish to minimize the number of surgical port sites, compared to traditional laparoscopic surgery. In general, laparoscopic surgery allows quicker patient recovery time, it is less painful, and leaves smaller, neater scars compared to open surgery.

While conventional laparoscopy surgery requires several incisions on the belly, single-port laparoscopy aims at decreasing the number of incisions to only one port. This is the main reason the single-port laparoscopy is considered an advanced option of laparoscopy, with the possible advantage of better cosmesis.

Advantages of the Single-Port Laparoscopy

Single-port laparoscopy surgery also serves an aesthetic role; as the stomach area will have fewer incisions, there will be less external scars.

However, single port laparoscopy requires special instrumentation, requiring an additional 10-20% costs to the entire surgical procedure.

Dr Victor Lee is one of the top surgeons in keyhole gallbladder surgery. He typically performs 80-100 gallbladder surgeries per year, with very reliable outcomes. He takes pride in his patients’ quick recovery and scar minimization. The patient can be discharged on the same or the next day for elective cases.

For more information and assistance, please call

6737 8878

Mount Elizabeth Orchard

6475 1488

Gleneagles Hospital

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