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The function of the common bile duct is to allow bile to travel from the gallbladder to the small intestine, mixing with pancreatic digestive enzymes along the way. [4] One possible complication of choledocholithiasis is an infection of the bile ducts between the liver and the gallstone lodged in the common bile duct.
The main functions of the gallbladder are to store and concentrate bile, also called gall, needed for the digestion of fats in food. Produced by the liver, bile flows through small vessels into the larger hepatic ducts and ultimately through the cystic duct (parts of the biliary tree ) into the gallbladder, where it is stored.
The major duodenal papilla (papilla of Vater) is a rounded projection in the duodenum into which the common bile duct and pancreatic duct drain. The major duodenal papilla is, in most people, the primary mechanism for the secretion of bile and other enzymes that facilitate digestion.
The human digestive system consists of the gastrointestinal tract plus the accessory organs of digestion (the tongue, salivary glands, pancreas, liver, and gallbladder). Digestion involves the breakdown of food into smaller and smaller components, until they can be absorbed and assimilated into the body.
Bile (from Latin bilis), or gall, is a yellow-green/misty green fluid produced by the liver of most vertebrates that aids the digestion of lipids in the small intestine. In humans, bile is primarily composed of water , is produced continuously by the liver, and is stored and concentrated in the gallbladder .
Jaundice is commonly caused by conditions such as pancreatic cancer, which causes blockage of the bile duct passing through the cancerous portion of the pancreas; cholangiocarcinoma, cancer of the bile ducts; blockage by a stone in patients with gallstones; and from scarring after injury to the bile duct during gallbladder removal.
When bile enters the duodenum (the first part of the small intestine), it aids in digesting the fat within food leaving the stomach. When the bile can not be properly propelled from the not-mechanically-obstructed gallbladder or can not flow out of the end of the common bile duct properly, there is a state of biliary dyskinesia.
The bile duct is some 6–8 cm long, and normally up to 8 mm in diameter. [4]Its proximal supraduodenal part is situated within the free edge of the lesser omentum.Its middle retroduodenal part is oriented inferiorly and right-ward, and is situated posterior to the first part of the duodenum, and anterior to the inferior vena cava.