A female comes into the ER with very yellow skin, this is called jaundice, she has abdominal pain in the right upper quadrant of the abdomen with a positive Murphy’s sign. She has been found to have cholecystitis and choledocholithiasis which means there are gallstones present by ultrasound.  One has traveled and blocked the common bile duct.  Describe the flow of bile in the liver and gallbladder and include the various ducts involved.  What is bile and what does it do in digestion? What happens when the common bile duct is blocked?  This stone blockage is so severe she has also developed pancreatitis.  What are the functions of the pancreas?  Does it belong to more than one body system?  The patient had a cholecystectomy and ERCP or endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography which allows for the practitioner to see stones in the common bile duct and remove them.  She has now recovered after a few days.
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