Index
They are lesions that project from the wall into the interior of the gallbladder.
Gallbladder polyps are growths from the inner lining of the gallbladder. 95% of them are benign, and only in rare cases can they be cancerous.
Polyps can develop on any mucous membrane, including the gallbladder. Wherever polyps occur, they are generally small and benign in growth.
Gallbladder function
The gallbladder is a small, elastic bag located just below the liver.
It stores and concentrates the bile that is made in the liver, as well as liver waste products .
Bile is a greenish-brown liquid that contains cholesterol, bilirubin, bile salts, and other components.
The gallbladder responds to digestive signals when food is eaten and releases the correct amount of bile needed to aid in the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins and the digestion of fats.
Excess bile that is not immediately required for digestion is stored by the gallbladder to be released in a timely manner.
The problem arises when the bile becomes acidic, stagnant, and toxic. At this stage, sediment and gallstones begin to form.
If this stage is prolonged, polyps can occur.
Effects of gallbladder polyps
With the increasing use of abdominal imaging such as ultrasound, gallbladder injuries are often found accidentally and, according to traditional medical practice, it is not always clear what management is necessary.
A very high percentage of gallbladder polyps found are small.
These polyps are known as non-neoplastic, which means that they are not growing and do not pose a health risk.
On many occasions, small lesions are initially identified as polyps on an ultrasound test, when a cholecystectomy is performed , they are revealed to be very small gallstones.
Doctors are often concerned when they detect polyps that are more than half an inch in diameter, however, medical studies have shown that in most cases, people with gallbladder polyps, followed for an average of 5 years, they had no size and changes in the tissue detected.
Only 1% of the cases showed growth at that time.
The same study concluded that a large number of follow-up ultrasound examinations for gallbladder polyps can be done unnecessarily.
Detecting polyps that are one centimeter or larger will generally prompt the doctor to suggest surgery as a precautionary measure.
Removal of the gallbladder is by laparoscopic surgery called cholecystectomy.
Small polyps in the gallbladder that are about 10mm in size are unlikely to be cancerous and generally do not require treatment.
Cause of gallbladder polyps
There is no known cause for the appearance of gallbladder polyps. But a toxic condition in the liver and gallbladder usually precedes the formation of polyps in the gallbladder.
When the gallbladder contains excessive toxicity in the form of sludge, stagnant bile, or gallstones, the gallbladder tissues can become inflamed.
Stagnant fluids are usually acidic and this can cause irritation at first and then inflammation of the tissues.
Symptoms of gallbladder polyps
Most patients with gallbladder polyps do not experience any particular symptoms.
This means that polyps are only found during an abdominal ultrasound, which is done for other conditions or complaints.
Diagnosis of a vesicular polyp
The diagnosis of gallbladder polyp has increased enormously due to the widespread use of abdominal ultrasound, and it is now a common reason for surgical consultations.
Generally, gallbladder polyps are an incidental finding of a routine abdominal ultrasound, or one performed for the diagnosis of another pathology.
Gallbladder polyps are diagnosed in about 5% of patients in the general population.
Types of gallbladder polyps
Vesicular polyps are classified into benign polyps and malignant polyps.
Benign gallbladder polyps
- Pseudotumors such as cholesterol polyps, inflammation polyps, hyperplasia polyps, and cholesterolosis. Inflammatory polyps are not common. They are due to local inflammatory reactions of epithelial proliferation with infiltration of inflammatory cells and are often associated with chronic cholecystitis.
- Tumors in the epithelial tissue such as adenomas. Although adenomas are benign polyps, they can exhibit premalignant behavior.
- Tumors in the mesenchymal tissue such as fibromas, lipomas, hemangiomas.
About two-thirds of all polyps 5mm or smaller are cholesterol polyps and are generally benign.
The rest are leiomyomas (smooth muscle), adenomatous or inflammatory polyps of the gallbladder, which generally do not increase in size.
Only about 5 percent of gallbladder polyps are cancerous.
Malignant gallbladder polyps
Recent studies have shown that most gallbladder polyps are benign and that most of them are cholesterol polyps.
These arise due to the decompensation of cholesterol, with accumulation of cholesterol in the histiocytes covered with columnar epithelium.
They are normally attached to the gallbladder mucosa by a delicate pedicle, are characteristically found in groups (more than 3), are small, and the gallbladder mucosa is intact.
Proper diagnosis of the gallbladder is important for the differentiation between benign, malignant or premalignant polyps, in order to choose an appropriate treatment.
Treatment of gallbladder polyps
Most gallbladder polyps are benign and in that case there is no real need to remove them.
However, if they are larger than 1 cm, if you have more than 50 polyps, if there are signs that they may be malignant, or if you have gallstones at the same time, your doctor may decide and recommend removal. of the gallbladder.
For small or solitary polyps, laparoscopic surgery is an option.
In most patients, the diagnosis of gallbladder polyps is an incidental finding or after a cholecystectomy for acute or chronic cholecystitis.
Due to the fact that advanced gallbladder cancer develops a poor prognosis, early detection is very important for curative treatment.
In treating gallbladder polyps, the main goal is to prevent the development of gallbladder carcinoma.
Traditional medicine states that the cause of gallbladder polyps is unknown, and that there is no cure for these types of polyps except through surgical removal of the entire organ.
Not all specialists believe in the idea that there is no cure for gallbladder polyps or any other disease, and that the only solution is to surgically remove any organ or tissue that shows signs of disease; in this case, the gallbladder.
In alternative or natural medicine, toxicity is believed to be the underlying cause of more than 90% of all diseases and that once toxicity levels are minimized and reduced to the most manageable levels by your body’s standards, disease or infections can be easily overcome, through the body’s own immune system.
Gallbladder polyps are no exception.
Gallbladder polyps can be treated and removed in the same way that gallstones can be treated.
Once you remove the toxic and irritating sludge and congestion, the tissue inflammation is likely to gradually subside and the polyps will disappear if they are inflammatory-type polyps.
If they are cholesterol polyps, they can actually be ruptured and put through a liver and gallbladder detox program.
In the case of gallbladder polyps we must also address the problem of parasites, as well as stagnant toxic bile, sediment and gallstones.