Hello and welcome to the Zero to Finals podcast.

My name is Tom and in this episode I'm going to be going through Gaulstones.

And you can find written notes on this topic at zero definals.com slash gallstones

or in the general surgery section of the zero to finals surgery book.

So let's get straight into it.

Gawl stones are small stones that form within the gallbladder.

The stones form from concentrated bile in the bile duct.

Most stones are made of cholesterol.

Goal stones may be completely asymptomatic.

They can also cause pain and lead to complications

such as acute colocystitis, acute colangitis, and pancreatitis.

Gullstones blocking the drainage of the pancreas,

i.e. the pancreatic duct, result in pancreatitis.

Let's talk about the basic anatomy. The right hepatic duct and the left hepatic duct leave the

liver and join together to become the common hepatic duct. The cystic duct from the gallbladder joins to the common hepatic duct halfway along its length.

The pancreatic duct from the pancreas joins with the common hepatic duct further along.

When the common bile duct and the pancreatic duct join, they become the ampola of Veta,

which opens into the duodenum.

The sphincter of Odi is a ring of muscle surrounding the ampola of Veda

that controls the flow of bile and pancreatic secretions into the duodenum.

Let's talk through some key definitions. There are some key definitions that it is helpful to be

familiar with that relate to the gallbladder and gallstones. Colostasis refers to blockage of the flow

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