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CHOLELITHIASIS:
PATIENT FACTOR; GENDER:
Cholelithiasis is a gall bladder disease in which there is the presence of gall stones. Generally, females, as a gender, are particularly more vulnerable to acquire this disease especially in their fertile years. According to Völzke et al. (2005), female gender is one of the most authentically established risk factor for gall stones. It is a non-modifiable risk factor in females of reproductive age. According to Heuman (2015), the reason for this disease to commonly occur in females is thought to be due to altered levels of estrogen which can directly alter cholesterol levels.
SCENARIO:
ASSOCIATED ALTERATIONS AND SYMPTOMS:
According to United States National Library of Medicine (2015), the typical symptoms with which a patient of cholelithiasis presents with jaundice, right hypochondrric pain, bloating, fever, nausea and vomiting.
PATHOPHYSIOLOGY:
The pathophysiology of gall stone includes the theory that there are certain substances which causes super saturation of the bile. Such a bile may precipitate and form crystallized stones. The other theory is that the wall of the gall bladder becomes irregular leading to the debris and calcification of that debris. There are various different types of gall stones like cholesterol, calcium, bilirubin and pigmented gall stones. One other type of gall stone is called a mixed gall stone and they constitute of a mixture of substances. These substances when coalesce, forms stones and these stones can get lodged in the biliary tree causing obstructive symptoms. It has also been noticed that there is a genetic preponderance to gall stone as well.(Heuman, 2015)
In a nut shell, it is very well warranted that gall stones are much more common in females because of the role of estrogen in cholesterol metabolism. Also multiparous women are also at risk because of the cholestatic effect of the progesterone.
References
Heuman, D. (2015). Gallstones (Cholelithiasis): Practice Essentials, Background, Pathophysiology. Emedicine.medscape.com. Retrieved 29 February 2016, from http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/175667-overview#a5
United States National Library of Medicine,. (2015). Gallstones: MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia. Retrieved 29 February 2016, from https://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000273.htm
Völzke, H., Baumeister, S. E., Alte, D., Hoffmann, W., Schwahn, C., Simon, P., & Lerch, M. M. (2005). Independent risk factors for gallstone formation in a region with high cholelithiasis prevalence. Digestion, 71(2), 97-105.
