Gallstones in Spanish

What it means

Gallstones are hard deposits that form inside the gallbladder. They may be as small as a grain of sand or as large as a golf ball. MedlinePlus explains that the gallbladder is a pear-shaped organ under the liver that stores bile, a fluid made by the liver to digest fat, and that gallstones form when substances in bile harden. Many people with gallstones do not have any symptoms. If a large stone blocks a tube or duct that drains the gallbladder, there may be a cramping pain in the middle to right upper abdomen, which is called biliary colic. MedlinePlus adds that gallstones are often found during imaging tests for other health conditions, and it gives cholelithiasis as another name. In Spanish the term is cálculos biliares.

Spanish term: Cálculos biliares
Gender and article: masculine plural: los cálculos biliares (singular: el cálculo biliar)
Pronunciation: KAHL-koo-lohs bee-LYAH-rehs

Other Spanish terms	Where it is used	Note
colelitiasis	General	MedlinePlus en español lists it first among the alternative names in its encyclopedia article.

Cálculos biliares is the title of both the MedlinePlus en español health topic and its encyclopedia article. The noun is masculine: los cálculos biliares, un cálculo grande; within the text, both pages shorten it to los cálculos. The encyclopedia article lists colelitiasis first among its alternative names.

Words MedlinePlus en español uses around the term include vesícula biliar (gallbladder), shortened to la vesícula, bilis (bile), conductos biliares (bile ducts) and cólico biliar (biliary colic). A gallstone attack is a crisis por cálculos in the health topic, while the encyclopedia article lists ataque de la vesícula biliar and ataque de cálculos among its alternative names. Removal of the gallbladder is extracción de la vesícula biliar, and ictericia is jaundice, the yellowing of the skin and the whites of the eyes.

Phrases for an appointment

What a patient or a clinician might say, in English and Spanish:

Who	English	Spanish
Patient	I get a strong pain in the upper right part of my belly after I eat.	Me da un dolor fuerte en la parte superior derecha del abdomen después de comer.
Clinician	How long does the pain last?	¿Cuánto tiempo le dura el dolor?
Patient	About an hour, and sometimes I have nausea and vomit.	Más o menos una hora, y a veces tengo náuseas y vomito.
Clinician	Have you noticed yellowing of your skin or the whites of your eyes?	¿Ha notado un color amarillento en la piel o en la parte blanca de los ojos?
Clinician	Do you also have a fever?	¿También tiene fiebre?
Clinician	I am going to order an ultrasound of your abdomen to look for gallstones.	Voy a pedirle una ecografía abdominal para buscar cálculos biliares.
Patient	The ultrasound report says I have gallstones. Do I need surgery?	El informe de la ecografía dice que tengo cálculos biliares. ¿Necesito cirugía?
Patient	My mother had her gallbladder removed.	A mi madre le sacaron la vesícula.

In 9 languages

Language	Term
English	Gallstones
Spanish (Español)	Cálculos biliares
Chinese (中文)	膽結石
Korean (한국어)	담석증
Vietnamese (Tiếng Việt)	Sỏi mật
Filipino (Tagalog)	Gallstones
Portuguese (Português)	Cálculos biliares
Thai (ภาษาไทย)	นิ่วในถุงน้ำดี
Japanese (日本語)	胆石症

Where you'll see it

chartEOBmedical recordreferralprescription

Related ICD-10-CM category

ICD-10-CM code: K80 → Cholelithiasis

Related terms

Your right to an interpreter in the United States

If English is not your primary language and you have difficulty communicating in English, you may need an interpreter or a translated document when you visit a doctor or dentist, go to the emergency room or pick up a prescription. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights states that two federal laws, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, require programs that receive its funding to provide language access services free of charge.

You can ask when you make the appointment or at the front desk: "I need an interpreter, please." «Necesito un intérprete, por favor.»

More terms: Digestive system

All terms in this area: Digestive system — Sistema digestivo

Sources

This page is a language reference. It is not medical advice.