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Basic laparoscopy: Cholecystectomy 04.2 Biliary colic

We postulate that a stone:

Moves out of the gallbladder.

Passes down the cystic duct and common bile duct and into the duodenum.

This causes a severe colicky upper abdominal pain with vomiting.

The pain is is attributed to rapid distension of the gallbladder and cystic and common bile ducts.

Over 6 to 12 hours, the stone passes out of the biliary tree, with relief of symptoms.

If the stone does not pass, the sequence of events is as for bile duct stones.

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