Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsAnatomyHow They DifferCauses of PainPancreatic PainDiagnosis
Table of ContentsView All
View All
Table of Contents
Anatomy
How They Differ
Causes of Pain
Pancreatic Pain
Diagnosis
Gallbladder pain andliver painare similar in that the organs are situated next to each other and cause pain in the upper right portion of the abdomen (belly). While it can be difficult to differentiate gallbladder pain from liver pain, the location and characteristics of the pain can sometimes offer clues.
Gallbladder pain is often described as sharp and radiating,while liver pain tends to be dull and persistent.Gallbladder pain can also be felt deeper,whereas liver pain is typically more generalized.The differences in symptoms are partly attributed to the presence or absence of pain receptors in these organs.
Milos Dimic / Getty Images
How the Liver and Gallbladder Work
The liver and gallbladder are two organs of thegastrointestinal systemthat work together to aid in the digestion of foods you eat.
Theliveris a large organ situated in the upper right portion of your abdomen, just beneath thediaphragm(the muscle that separates your chest cavity from your abdominal cavity).
Among its many functions, the liver helps remove toxins from the blood, regulates and maintains most chemical levels in the body, and secretes a yellowish-green digestive fluid known asbile.
Thegallbladderis a small, pear-shaped organ also located on the right side of the abdomen, just beneath the liver. The gallbladder receives and stores bile secreted from the liver through a series of small ducts.
Whenever you eat food, the gallbladder releases bile through a larger centralized duct (called the common bile duct) into the first part of thesmall intestine, called theduodenum.
Gallbladder vs. Liver Pain: Differences and Similarities
The location and functions of the gallbladder and liver account for differences in pain in people with gallbladder disease and liver disease. Even so, there can be overlapping symptoms that make it harder to tell one from the other.
Location
The size of the liver and gallbladder play a role in how pain is experienced.
At the same time, gallbladder disease can cause inflammation that irritates the rightphrenic nerve, which runs alongside it. This can cause the nerve, which services the diaphragm, to “misfire” and shoot pain signals along the entire nerve route. The radiating nerve pain (calledradicular pain) may be felt under the right shoulder blade or right back.
Signs and Symptoms of Liver Disease
Pain Description
Gallbladder and liver pain are often identical and impossible to tell apart without a medical evaluation. That said, the nerves servicing these organs are distinct and can cause different pain experiences.
Because of this, liver pain is often described as dull, vague, aching, and difficult to locate.
Because of this, gallbladder pain is often described asacute(sudden), gripping, gnawing, sharp, cramping, or stabbing.
This doesn’t mean that liver pain is always dull or that gallbladder pain is always severe.
With advanced liver disease, severe abdominal pain can develop along with fatigue,abdominal swelling,jaundice(yellowing of the skin and eyes), and other symptoms of acutehepatitis(liver inflammation).
Signs and Symptoms of Gallbladder Disease
Causes of Gallbladder and Liver Pain
Gallbladder Pain Causes
Possible causes include:
Liver Pain Causes
Liver pain is often associated with conditions that causehepatitisand progressive scarring of the liver, known asfibrosis. These include:
What About Pancreas Pain?
Pancreatitisis the inflammation of thepancreasthat typically causes sudden, severe pain in the upper left or middle of your abdomen. It can start with dull, aching pain that steadily gets worse after eating high-fat foods or drinking alcohol.
Severe pancreatitis can also cause nausea, vomiting, and radiating pain to the left shoulder blade or back.
Among its functions, the pancreas delivers digestive enzymes to the common bile duct via the pancreatic duct. Infection or injury of the pancreas or pancreatic duct can cause acute or chronic pain.
Common causes of pancreatitis include:
Some cases of pancreatitis areidiopathic, meaning that the cause is unknown.
Causes of Upper Right Abdominal Pain
Specialists and Testing for Biliary Organ Pain
To diagnose the cause of biliary organ pain, the specialist may order tests and procedures such as:
Summary
Gallbladder pain can be difficult to distinguish from liver pain as both occur on the upper right side of the belly. Gallbladder pain is often sharp, stabbing, deep, and easy to locate. Liver pain tends to be more diffuse, dull, and difficult to locate. Ultimately, the only way to tell the difference is to seek a diagnosis from a gastroenterologist or a hepatologist.
12 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Espino EA, Kazaleh M, Zaglul J, Frontela O.Acute cholecystitis presenting with atypical radiologic or laboratory findings: a case report.Cureus.2023;15(6):e41217. doi:10.7759/cureus.41217Holman A, Parikh N, Clauw DJ, Williams DA, Tapper EB.Contemporary management of pain in cirrhosis: toward precision therapy for pain.Hepatology.2023;77(1):290–304. doi:10.1002/hep.32598Carter CT.Acute thoracolumbar pain due to cholecystitis: a case study.Chiropr Man Therap.2015;23:34. doi:10.1186/s12998-015-0079-2Klinge M, Coppler T, Liebshutz JM, et al.The assessment and management of pain in cirrhosis.Curr Hepatol Rep.2018;17(1):42–51. doi:10.1007/s11901-018-0389-7Aguiar JA, Riaz A, Thornburg B.Biliary anatomy.Semin Intervent Radiol.2021;38(3):251–254. doi:10.1055/s-0041-1731085Tjaden J, Patel K, Aadam A.Gallbladder agenesis with refractory choledocholithiasis.Case Rep Gastrointest Med.2015;2015:747931. doi:10.1155/2015/747931Yeo DM, Jung SE.Differentiation of acute cholecystitis from chronic cholecystitis: determination of useful multidetector computed tomography findings.Medicine (Baltimore).2018;97(33):e11851. doi:10.1097/MD.0000000000011851Lam R, Zakko A, Petrov JC, Kumar P, Duffy AJ, Muniraj T,Gallbladder disorders: a comprehensive review,Disease a Month. 2021;67(7):101130. doi:10.1016/j.disamonth.2021.101130Ray G.Management of liver diseases: current perspectives.World J Gastroenterol.2022;28(40):5818–5826. doi:10.3748/wjg.v28.i40.5818National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease.Symptoms & causes of pancreatitis.National Health Service (UK).Acute pancreatitis.Matsubara S.Clinical advances in the diagnosis and treatment of biliary tract diseases.J Clin Med.2023;12(6):2282. doi:10.3390/jcm12062282
12 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Espino EA, Kazaleh M, Zaglul J, Frontela O.Acute cholecystitis presenting with atypical radiologic or laboratory findings: a case report.Cureus.2023;15(6):e41217. doi:10.7759/cureus.41217Holman A, Parikh N, Clauw DJ, Williams DA, Tapper EB.Contemporary management of pain in cirrhosis: toward precision therapy for pain.Hepatology.2023;77(1):290–304. doi:10.1002/hep.32598Carter CT.Acute thoracolumbar pain due to cholecystitis: a case study.Chiropr Man Therap.2015;23:34. doi:10.1186/s12998-015-0079-2Klinge M, Coppler T, Liebshutz JM, et al.The assessment and management of pain in cirrhosis.Curr Hepatol Rep.2018;17(1):42–51. doi:10.1007/s11901-018-0389-7Aguiar JA, Riaz A, Thornburg B.Biliary anatomy.Semin Intervent Radiol.2021;38(3):251–254. doi:10.1055/s-0041-1731085Tjaden J, Patel K, Aadam A.Gallbladder agenesis with refractory choledocholithiasis.Case Rep Gastrointest Med.2015;2015:747931. doi:10.1155/2015/747931Yeo DM, Jung SE.Differentiation of acute cholecystitis from chronic cholecystitis: determination of useful multidetector computed tomography findings.Medicine (Baltimore).2018;97(33):e11851. doi:10.1097/MD.0000000000011851Lam R, Zakko A, Petrov JC, Kumar P, Duffy AJ, Muniraj T,Gallbladder disorders: a comprehensive review,Disease a Month. 2021;67(7):101130. doi:10.1016/j.disamonth.2021.101130Ray G.Management of liver diseases: current perspectives.World J Gastroenterol.2022;28(40):5818–5826. doi:10.3748/wjg.v28.i40.5818National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease.Symptoms & causes of pancreatitis.National Health Service (UK).Acute pancreatitis.Matsubara S.Clinical advances in the diagnosis and treatment of biliary tract diseases.J Clin Med.2023;12(6):2282. doi:10.3390/jcm12062282
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
Espino EA, Kazaleh M, Zaglul J, Frontela O.Acute cholecystitis presenting with atypical radiologic or laboratory findings: a case report.Cureus.2023;15(6):e41217. doi:10.7759/cureus.41217Holman A, Parikh N, Clauw DJ, Williams DA, Tapper EB.Contemporary management of pain in cirrhosis: toward precision therapy for pain.Hepatology.2023;77(1):290–304. doi:10.1002/hep.32598Carter CT.Acute thoracolumbar pain due to cholecystitis: a case study.Chiropr Man Therap.2015;23:34. doi:10.1186/s12998-015-0079-2Klinge M, Coppler T, Liebshutz JM, et al.The assessment and management of pain in cirrhosis.Curr Hepatol Rep.2018;17(1):42–51. doi:10.1007/s11901-018-0389-7Aguiar JA, Riaz A, Thornburg B.Biliary anatomy.Semin Intervent Radiol.2021;38(3):251–254. doi:10.1055/s-0041-1731085Tjaden J, Patel K, Aadam A.Gallbladder agenesis with refractory choledocholithiasis.Case Rep Gastrointest Med.2015;2015:747931. doi:10.1155/2015/747931Yeo DM, Jung SE.Differentiation of acute cholecystitis from chronic cholecystitis: determination of useful multidetector computed tomography findings.Medicine (Baltimore).2018;97(33):e11851. doi:10.1097/MD.0000000000011851Lam R, Zakko A, Petrov JC, Kumar P, Duffy AJ, Muniraj T,Gallbladder disorders: a comprehensive review,Disease a Month. 2021;67(7):101130. doi:10.1016/j.disamonth.2021.101130Ray G.Management of liver diseases: current perspectives.World J Gastroenterol.2022;28(40):5818–5826. doi:10.3748/wjg.v28.i40.5818National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease.Symptoms & causes of pancreatitis.National Health Service (UK).Acute pancreatitis.Matsubara S.Clinical advances in the diagnosis and treatment of biliary tract diseases.J Clin Med.2023;12(6):2282. doi:10.3390/jcm12062282
Espino EA, Kazaleh M, Zaglul J, Frontela O.Acute cholecystitis presenting with atypical radiologic or laboratory findings: a case report.Cureus.2023;15(6):e41217. doi:10.7759/cureus.41217
Holman A, Parikh N, Clauw DJ, Williams DA, Tapper EB.Contemporary management of pain in cirrhosis: toward precision therapy for pain.Hepatology.2023;77(1):290–304. doi:10.1002/hep.32598
Carter CT.Acute thoracolumbar pain due to cholecystitis: a case study.Chiropr Man Therap.2015;23:34. doi:10.1186/s12998-015-0079-2
Klinge M, Coppler T, Liebshutz JM, et al.The assessment and management of pain in cirrhosis.Curr Hepatol Rep.2018;17(1):42–51. doi:10.1007/s11901-018-0389-7
Aguiar JA, Riaz A, Thornburg B.Biliary anatomy.Semin Intervent Radiol.2021;38(3):251–254. doi:10.1055/s-0041-1731085
Tjaden J, Patel K, Aadam A.Gallbladder agenesis with refractory choledocholithiasis.Case Rep Gastrointest Med.2015;2015:747931. doi:10.1155/2015/747931
Yeo DM, Jung SE.Differentiation of acute cholecystitis from chronic cholecystitis: determination of useful multidetector computed tomography findings.Medicine (Baltimore).2018;97(33):e11851. doi:10.1097/MD.0000000000011851
Lam R, Zakko A, Petrov JC, Kumar P, Duffy AJ, Muniraj T,Gallbladder disorders: a comprehensive review,Disease a Month. 2021;67(7):101130. doi:10.1016/j.disamonth.2021.101130
Ray G.Management of liver diseases: current perspectives.World J Gastroenterol.2022;28(40):5818–5826. doi:10.3748/wjg.v28.i40.5818
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease.Symptoms & causes of pancreatitis.
National Health Service (UK).Acute pancreatitis.
Matsubara S.Clinical advances in the diagnosis and treatment of biliary tract diseases.J Clin Med.2023;12(6):2282. doi:10.3390/jcm12062282
Meet Our Medical Expert Board
Share Feedback
Was this page helpful?Thanks for your feedback!What is your feedback?OtherHelpfulReport an ErrorSubmit
Was this page helpful?
Thanks for your feedback!
What is your feedback?OtherHelpfulReport an ErrorSubmit
What is your feedback?
