What Causes Gallstones In The Bile Duct?

Posted on Tue, 29 Nov 2016

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Tue, 29 Nov 2016 Answered on

Tue, 20 Dec 2016 Last reviewed on

Question : My father had his gallbladder removed due to a stone. They left him on introvenice for 6 days before operating. By that time it was gangrene. Is was re moved, but went septic. He almost died, but recovered with much work. Now he has another stone in the duct that needs surgery from the same area. Did they miss taking out that duct?

Answered by Dr. Grzegorz Stanko (54 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Yes, it could be missed.

Detailed Answer:
Hello!

Thank you for the query.

Stone in a main bile duct is something else than stone in gallbladder. As it was necrotic (the gallbladder), even with the stone in main bile duct it was impossible to remove it by that time. So it could be missed, but for sure it is not a mistake.
Stone from the main bile duct can be removed without a surgery. The procedure called ERCP is the right tool to do that. With this procedure, most of the stones can be removed from bile ducts.
So you should ask his doctors about it before deciding about the surgery.

Hope this helps.
Regards.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar