Overview of Gallbladder and Bile Duct Disorders

The liver produces bile, a greenish yellow, thick, sticky fluid. Bile aids digestion by making cholesterol, fats, and fat-soluble vitamins easier to absorb from the intestine. Bile also helps eliminate certain waste products (mainly bilirubin and excess cholesterol) and byproducts of medications from the body.

The biliary tract consists of small tubes (ducts) that carry bile from the liver to the gallbladder and then to the small intestine. The gallbladder is a small, pear-shaped sac located beneath the liver. It stores bile. When bile is needed, in particular right after a person eats, the gallbladder contracts, pushing bile through the bile ducts into the small intestine.

View of the Liver, Bile Ducts, and Gallbladder

The flow of bile can be blocked by the following:

• Gallstones that pass out of the gallbladder into the ducts

• Injury to the bile ducts during gallbladder surgery

• Narrowing of the bile ducts caused by factors such as HIV-related infections or sclerosing disease (primary or IgG4 sclerosing cholangitis)

• Disorders of the pancreas, which can narrow the bile ducts as they pass through the pancreas

• Extrinsic compression by tumors (pancreatic, gallbladder, liver, or metastatic tumors).

• Tumors of the bile duct

• Infestation by parasites

If the bile ducts are blocked, the gallbladder may become inflamed (cholecystitis).

People may also experience biliary pain without gallstones (acalculous biliary pain), and sometimes pain or other symptoms after surgical gallbladder removal (postcholecystectomy syndrome).