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Gallstones are small stones that form in your gallbladder. This is a little pouch that sits under your liver. It stores digestive juices that help your body break down food. Lots of people have gallstones.

In most people, gallstones don't cause any problems. But sometimes, they block the tubes that carry digestive juices. This can give you pain in your abdomen. And it can cause more serious problems too, like swelling of your gallbladder.

The good news is that the usual treatment for gallstones works. That treatment is an operation to take out your gallbladder.

• Gallstones are very common. By the age of 75, about 1 in 3 women and 1 in 5 men have them.¹
• In most people, these stones don't cause any problems and don't need any treatment.²
• If your gallstones do cause problems, the most likely symptom is pain in your abdomen. But you may have weeks or even years between pain attacks.
• Other conditions can cause the same symptoms as gallstones. So doctors use tests to help work out your diagnosis.
• If your gallstones cause problems, the usual treatment is an operation to take out your gallbladder.¹
• There are different ways to do the operation. Most people have what is called keyhole surgery, which uses small cuts.

Your gallbladder is part of your digestive system. This system breaks down the food you eat so your body can use the nutrients.

Your gallbladder's job is to store bile. Bile is one of the digestive juices. Gall is the old name for bile.

Bile is a yellow-green liquid. It is made by your liver. It flows through tubes, also known as ducts, into your bowel. That's where it goes to work, helping to break down food.

Bile has lots of chemicals in it. One chemical is cholesterol. This is a fatty substance. Another chemical is called bile acid. It helps break down fat in the food you eat.

Your liver makes bile all the time. But it only goes into your bowel when you eat or drink. The rest of the time, it is stored in your gallbladder. This is a small, stretchy pouch that sits under your liver. Normally, your gallbladder holds about six teaspoons of bile.

When you eat or drink, your gallbladder squeezes bile out into a tube called the cystic duct. The bile flows down this tube into another one. That second tube is called the bile duct. It takes the bile to your bowel.

When your liver makes bile that is not needed right away, the bile flows up your cystic duct and into your gallbladder, for storage.

Sometimes, when bile is stored in your gallbladder, it gets very thick. Then it can get crystals in it. Usually, the crystals are made of cholesterol from the bile. They can grow into gallstones.

Gallstones can be as small as a grain of sand or as big as a golf ball. And you may have just one big gallstone or hundreds of small ones.

You may hear gallstones called cholelithiasis.

Lots of people have gallstones but don't know it. The stones don't cause any symptoms. In this case, doctors say you have silent gallstones.

But sometimes the stones block the tubes that carry bile. This can cause symptoms such as pain in your abdomen and fever. If this happens, doctors say you have symptomatic gallstones.

The symptoms and problems gallstones cause depend on where they gets stuck and how long they stay stuck.

Gallstones can hurt a lot when they block tubes. Usually, this isn't serious. But sometimes the blockage does cause serious problems like inflammation (swelling) in your gallbladder.

Lots of people get gallstones. You are more likely to get them if:

• You are over 40
• You are a woman
• You are from a background that gets gallstones more often than others
• You are obese (very overweight)
• You are pregnant
• You have lost a lot of weight quickly
• You eat foods that have a lot of fat in them.

Things that increase your chances of getting a disease are called risk factors. The biggest ones for getting gallstones are your age, your sex and your background.³ For more, see Risk factors for gallstones.

You may be able to do some things to lower your chances of getting gallstones. For more, see What can I do to lower my risk of gallstones?

This information is for educational use only, and is not a substitute for prompt professional medical advice. Readers should always consult a physician or other professional for advice and treatment. ©BMJ Publishing Group Limited 2008. All rights reserved.