Long gap between meals leads to gallbladder stones, say experts

Lucknow: Frequently keeping a gap of over eight hours between two meals can lead to gallbladder stones in a person, said experts at the 48th annual conference of the UP Association of Surgeons organized by KGMU on Friday.

They said that due to a busy lifestyle, people, especially youngsters, keep themselves busy at work and forget to take meals at regular intervals. Besides, many obese people, in their bid to lose weight rapidly, start skipping meals. All this increases the chance of getting a gallstone.

As many as 500 delegates from across the country are participating in the three-day conference. Dr Akshay Anand, faculty at KGMU surgery department, said, "Gallbladder releases bile juice only for digestion of food. But when someone remains empty stomach bile keeps collecting in the gallbladder and doesn't get released. If people start remaining on an empty stomach frequently, sediment in bile juice forms a stone. This can be avoided by having small meals regularly." He said that there should be no gap of more than six hours between two meals.

"Indian soil is rich in minerals, which is another reason for these stones other than blood infections and obesity. Around 13% of people suffer from this issue," he said while adding that the surgery department alone performs 1200-1500 gall bladder stones surgeries every year while many patients are operated at the surgical gastroenterology department.

In most of the cases laparoscopic surgery is performed to remove the gallbladder stone, he added. "During sleep, metabolic rate slows down, and bile also keeps on releasing at a slower pace for digestion of dinner. However, remaining on an empty stomach for long while awake increases the risk of bile stone," laparoscopic surgeon from Agra, Dr S D Maurya said.

Prof Abhinav Sonkar, head, surgery department, KGMU, said that while earlier in head and neck cancer, whole lymphatic tissue of the neck has to be removed. But now through better techniques of radical neck dissection only the cancer affected part is removed. It contributes to improvements in the postoperative quality of life after neck dissection.