Gallbladder

An Organ You Can Live Without

Even though she was about 15 pounds overweight, the woman indulged in her favorite fatty foods with gusto, consuming fried chicken, french fries, and topping it off with a hot fudge sundae. By 3 a.m., she regretted her actions, awakening with indigestion and a sharp, stabbing pain in the upper right quarter of her abdomen. The pain continued for hours, spreading to her shoulders, slowly ebbing away by the next afternoon.

Citrate, a calcium chelator, was found to be a regular component of bile in the majority of patients with cholelithiasis. The elevation of citric acid levels was investigated in patients with ind...