1. Who gets biliary dyskinesia?
Anyone can have a gallbladder
which does not contract properly and causes the symptoms. However, the diagnosis is seen mostly in women from young
adult to middle ages years.
2. What are the nuclear tests and what do they involve?
These tests are done in the department of nuclear medicine at the hospital. A tracer
labled with radioactive material is injected in an IV and followed. The tracer material collects in the bile and is
followed as it travels from the liver, into the bile ducts and gallbladder. The rate at which this takes place
in normal people is used as a comparison. For instance, if the tracer does not even enter the gallbladder, or enters
very slowly, this is abnormal and may signify a diseased gallbladder. A hormone called CCK
which causes gallbladder contraction can be injected in another version of the nuclear test. This allows evaluation
of the gallbladders ability to expel the bile which is seen as the tracer material. An abnormal or poorly contracting
gallbladder has trouble expelling a certain percentage of the tracer labled bile and this can be measured.
3. What happens if after removal of the gallbladder, the pain still is present?
As mentioned, this diagnosis can be difficult to secure with as much certainty as others and on occasion, removal of
the gallbladder does not help with the pre operative symptoms. Persistent pain usually prompts further testing.
For questions regarding the surgery, laparoscopic cholecystectomy, please refer to that section with the link
Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy FAQs