The New Vestigial?!

     

Vestigial Vs. Non-Vestigial

   One fine evening, my sister connected to me telephonically, I was bewildered to hear that she had been advised by her doctor to go for surgical excision of her gall bladder i.e., cholecystectomy. I voluntarily dug the topic further, asking her for the reason behind. She admitted that there was an oxalate stone long-time stuck in her gall bladder and since the organ being vestigial (as informed by her doctor) it could be harmlessly removed. Vestigial word regarding gall bladder was a news to me and I kind of popped on my chair for a second. The confession of the surgery expenses easily getting bracketed into the insurance policy was may be another reason why my sister was excited about. I asked her to hold-on for time-being since it was painless and I decided to take a urgent call on this topic. I was shocked to come across several websites (ending with ‘surgery.com’s) advocating the benefits of gall bladder removal (why wouldn’t they!) and I was sad by my laid-back state in this field till date. Stone formation and inflammation being the underlying reasons for suggestive gall bladder removal and, laparoscopic and open surgeries be the multiple-choice options to it (of course, came with varying insurance packages). Most of the gall bladder stones being painless, in case of the painful stones, cholecystectomy is suggested over stone removal these days. It means the entire organ removal is opted over the main problem under the banner of ‘gall bladder being vestigial?!’

    Gall bladder is present under the right lobe of liver and, it sizes in an adult between 7 to 10 cm in length and 4 cm in diameter. It has the capacity of storing around 50 ml bile (a digestive fluid) which it receives from the liver through the hepatic duct and is released to the small intestine for the purpose of digestion of the fats. The pouch contracts and relaxes during the storage and the transport of the fluid. This storage and flow may be affected by stones, causing pain. There are medical advancements for the removal and/or dissolution of the stones using laparoscopic and endoscopic methods. Incorporating the nutrition inclusive of fibre rich diet from the veggies and fruits, the probiotics, the leafy greens, avoiding the red meat, authentic acupuncture therapy, ayurvedic treatment from an expert, yogasans for gall bladder pain relief (sarvangasan, bhujangasan and dhanurasan under the guidance of a tutor) and undoubtedly a healthy life style can be various precautionary as well as remedial practices.

What will happen if gall bladder is removed from the human body? According to the surgery.coms and insurance policies, nothing at all! And otherwise, it can lead to unstoppable internal bleeding, infections by opportunistic pathogens (leading to fever, vomiting, diarrhoea), bile would regularly leak during the dripping process, bile duct can be irreversibly injured, intestine can be damaged, blood clotting, indigestion for sure, hernia (possibly), pressure on the working of heart (which is obvious), post- cholecystectomy syndrome (PCS) and in severe cases, it is linked to the induction of colon cancer (other cancers as well). Normal routine may get disturbed after removal of gall bladder if meticulous care and life style habits aren’t aligned to the changed working of the body under the post-operative measures suggested by the experts. With this much of impact in the absentia of the organ, can we really call gall bladder as vestigial?