Gallbladder

The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) describes the gallbladder as a small, pear-shaped organ that stores bile and is located in the upper right abdomen, below the liver. NIDDK groups the gallbladder and the bile ducts together as the biliary tract, which helps with digestion by releasing bile.

NIDDK explains that the liver produces bile, which is mostly made of cholesterol, bile salts, and bilirubin. When a person eats, the body signals the gallbladder to empty bile into the duodenum to mix with food, and the bile ducts carry the bile from the gallbladder to the duodenum. MedlinePlus adds that a person can live without a gallbladder and that bile has other ways of reaching the small intestine.

Gallstones are hard, pebble-like pieces of material that form in the gallbladder. NIDDK says cholelithiasis is the name doctors sometimes call gallstones. When gallstones block the bile ducts, they can cause sudden pain in the upper right abdomen; NIDDK says this pain is called a gallbladder attack, or biliary colic. MedlinePlus notes that, rarely, cancer can also develop in the gallbladder.

Vesícula biliar is the term used by both MedlinePlus en español and the National Cancer Institute's Spanish dictionary. It is feminine: la vesícula biliar. After the first mention, MedlinePlus en español also shortens it to la vesícula. The fluid it stores is bilis, the tube English calls the common bile duct is the conducto biliar común, and the bile ducts in general are los conductos biliares.

Gallstones are cálculos biliares, shortened to los cálculos on the same page. For removal, MedlinePlus en español uses the verb extirpar and lists encyclopedia articles titled Extirpación abierta de la vesícula biliar and Extirpación laparoscópica de la vesícula biliar, along with an image page titled Colecistectomía; the English page lists an item titled Cholecystectomy. Under Otros nombres for gallbladder diseases, the Spanish page gives colecistopatía, enfermedad biliar and enfermedades vesiculares. Gallbladder cancer appears there as cáncer en la vesícula.