About 300,000 Americans have gallbladder surgery annually. At Lenox Hill Surgeons, LLP in  the Lenox Hill area of Manhattan in New York City, the team of esteemed board-certified surgeons performs gallbladder removal surgery to permanently eliminate the source of your pain. Fortunately, you can live without a gallbladder, so this surgery can vastly improve your quality of life if you suffer from gallstones or other issues. Call the office or click on the online scheduler to book your consultation now.

What is gallbladder surgery?

Gallbladder surgery, or cholecystectomy, is a surgical procedure that removes your entire gallbladder. Lenox Hill Surgeons, LLP specializes in safe, effective, and minimally invasive gallbladder removal surgery in the New York City area.

When might I need gallbladder surgery?

The team at Lenox Hill Surgeons, LLP might recommend gallbladder surgery if you have problems such as: 

Gallstones

Gallstones are hard pebbles made of bile, a digestive fluid that comes from your liver. Normally, your liver sends bile to your gallbladder, which stores and releases it to the small intestine as needed to facilitate digestion. 

Gallstones can stay as small as a single grain of sand or grow as large as a golf ball. Most people have multiple small gallstones, but occasionally a large one forms in the gallbladder. 

Cholecystitis

Gallbladder inflammation, or cholecystitis, may happen if a gallstone plugs a bile duct — the tube that bile takes to leave your gallbladder. The resulting bile accumulation can then lead to gallbladder inflammation and infection. 

You can also develop cholecystitis due to problems with the structure of the bile duct, tumors, or other issues.  

Gallbladder cancer

Gallbladder cancer is a malignant growth in the gallbladder or its connected bile ducts. It can cause symptoms like those of gallstones and cholecystitis, but it’s far rarer than those conditions. 

Gallstones and cholecystitis can cause very uncomfortable symptoms such as upper-right abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, chills, and jaundice if untreated. 

Gallbladder cancer is less likely to cause symptoms, but when they develop, they’re similar to those of gallstones and cholecystitis. Gallbladder cancer may also cause a lump in your abdomen.

What is the gallbladder surgery process?

The team at Lenox Hill Surgeons, LLP offers individualized care for every patient. To bring you into the decision-making process, they explain your surgery options, how each works, and why they recommend a specific approach.

In most cases, gallbladder surgery is minimally invasive. Lenox Hill Surgeons, LLP uses the state-of-the-art da Vinci® robot-assisted surgical system or a similarly minimally invasive approach (laparoscopic surgery) for most gallbladder surgeries.

Surgeons control robotic arms using a bedside console during robotic surgery. They create either a couple of tiny incisions in your abdomen or one in the area of your belly button. 

Through a tiny 3D camera placed inside an incision, surgeons view your gallbladder and its surrounding tissues in detail. They can then manipulate the robotic arms precisely to remove your gallbladder. 

Robotic gallbladder surgery offers the highest level of safety and also reduces surgical bleeding, pain, infection risk, and recovery time. To learn more, call Lenox Hill Surgeons, LLP, or click on the online booking link now.