Biliary colic is an extremely severe pain in the upper right-hand part of the abdomen.
The pain, which comes and goes, is often accompanied by sweating and vomiting. It is the result of a spasm of the gall bladder or of obstruction of the bile ducts, either of which is caused by one or more gallstones. Injections of antispasmodic drugs reduce the pain, which usually ceases altogether when the gallstone passes into the duodenum, is removed, or lodges at the side of the bile duct. An oral cholecystogram or an ultrasound of the gall bladder can confirm the presence of gallstones. The treatment is to remove the gall bladder and the contained gallstones, usually with laparoscopic surgery.