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Gallstones (Gallstone)

Solid crystalline precipitates in the BILIARY TRACT, usually formed in the GALLBLADDER, resulting in the condition of CHOLELITHIASIS. Gallstones, derived from the BILE, consist mainly of calcium, cholesterol, or bilirubin.

Also Known As:

Gallstone; Gall Stones; Biliary Calculi, Common Bile Duct; Common Bile Duct Calculi; Common Bile Duct Gall Stones; Common Bile Duct Gallstones; Gall Stone; Gall Stones, Common Bile Duct; Gallstones, Common Bile Duct; Calculi, Biliary; Biliary Calculi

Networked: 6796 relevant articles (315 outcomes, 872 trials/studies)

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Disease Context: Research Results

Related Diseases

1.	Gallstones (Gallstone)
2.	Pancreatitis
3.	Shock
4.	Cholelithiasis
5.	Cholangitis

Experts

1.	Wang, David Q-H: 38 articles (10/2015 - 01/2002)
2.	Lammert, Frank: 30 articles (01/2015 - 02/2002)
3.	Portincasa, Piero: 28 articles (10/2015 - 04/2002)
4.	Carey, Martin C: 28 articles (02/2015 - 02/2002)
5.	Mittal, Balraj: 24 articles (06/2014 - 02/2004)
6.	Nervi, Flavio: 22 articles (09/2015 - 07/2002)
7.	Wang, Helen H: 19 articles (10/2015 - 03/2004)
8.	Han, Tian-Quan: 19 articles (06/2013 - 03/2005)
9.	Miquel, Juan Francisco: 19 articles (06/2013 - 01/2002)
10.	Wittenburg, Henning: 17 articles (06/2013 - 02/2002)

Drugs and Biologics

Drugs and Important Biological Agents (IBA) related to Gallstones:

1.	CholesterolIBA 01/01/1988 - "Several considerations support the view that adjuvant chemical dissolution therapy will be necessary for best results with ESWL, including compatibility of the rate of stone dissolution postlithotripsy with that of chemical dissolution rather than mechanical ejection; the common presence of cholesterol-supersaturated bile in gallstone patients, promoting reconglomeration of fragments; and decreased contractility of the gallbladder, which may improve after successful cholelitholytic therapy with UDCA. " 02/01/1987 - "These agents are most effective in thin women with small, floating, radiolucent cholesterol gallstones in a functioning gallbladder. " 10/01/2011 - "It can be argued that upregulation of the ABCB4 gene expression may not only be beneficial for liver pathology in patients with partial ABCB4 deficiency, but also for the prevention of gallstone formation and optimal cholesterol disposition in a much larger population." 06/01/2012 - "Several studies have reported a significant reduction in the onset of symptomatic gallstones disease in patients undergoing chronic therapy with statins, which can reduce bile cholesterol saturation. " 09/01/1986 - "A semisynthetic diet plus cholesterol is superior to a high cholesterol chow diet for gallstone formation and prevention studies, but in prolonged feeding experiments, the potential hepatotoxicity of this diet in the prairie dog must be appreciated."
2.	Ursodeoxycholic Acid (Urso)FDA LinkGeneric 01/01/1989 - "Although most studies report that long-term bile acid treatment does not have protective effects, preliminary results suggest that low-dose ursodeoxycholic acid decreases the rate of gallstone recurrence in a subgroup of younger patients. " 06/01/1992 - "Pretreatment with ursodiol significantly improved while gallstone calcification interfered with fragmentation. " 06/01/2003 - "Of the cases in whom dissolution was achieved, all patients had multiple gallstones except for one with a solitary stone in Group I. Gallstones were not dissolved of any subject of group III. The results showed that ursodeoxycholic acid cholic therapy is more effective in the dissolution of multiple gallstones than of solitary ones. " 11/01/1997 - "Two multicenter, placebo-controlled, randomized, double-blind trials have demonstrated that the prophylactic use of ursodiol in males and females 18 to 70 years of age is effective for the prevention of gallstone formation in this patient population. " 11/01/2003 - "To determine if a 6-month regimen of prophylactic ursodeoxycholic acid is effective in the prevention of gallstones. "
3.	Chenodeoxycholic Acid (Chenix)FDA Link 01/01/1980 - "Chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA) is an effective treatment for dissolving gallstones but experimental studies have suggested that it might be hepatotoxic. " 03/01/2002 - "Most clinical trials on PBC therapy have used conservative dosages of UDCA similar to those of chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA) used for dissolution of gallstones. " 09/01/1991 - "Samples were obtained from National Cooperative Gallstone Study patients (n = 17) with abnormal light microscopic liver biopsy results or major aminotransferase elevations and from a matched control group of patients (n = 14) who received similar chenodiol doses but had no evidence of liver injury. " 06/01/1990 - "One hundred and twelve patients with radiolucent gallstones entered the study; 54 received chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA) and 58 ursodeoxycholic (UDCA) at dosage of 15 mg/kg/daily. " 09/01/1986 - "During the National Cooperative Gallstone Study, chenodiol (chenodeoxycholate), 750 or 375 mg/day, resulted in complete gallstone dissolution in only 13.5% and 5.2% of patients, respectively. "
4.	methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE)IBA 12/01/1990 - "Rapid dissolution of these fragments with methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) may prevent such side effects and achieve complete clearance of gallstones within hours rather than several months to a year or longer. " 07/01/1990 - "This study shows that mechanical fragmentation is effective in accelerating gallstone chemolysis by methyl tert-butyl ether for noncalcified and partially calcified but not for heavily calcified stones." 11/01/1990 - "Dissolution of gallbladder stones with MTBE appears to be an effective and safe treatment for patients with symptomatic gallstones who are unfit for surgery. " 07/01/1992 - "The demonstration that methyl tert-butyl ether is a safe and effective gallstone solvent and the development of the microprocessor-assisted solvent transfer system have revived the procedure of chemical contact dissolution of gallbladder stones, which was first described 100 years ago. " 01/01/1993 - "A laboratory ultrasound system has been developed to study enhancement of methyl-tert-butyl ether (MTBE) dissolution of human gallstones in vitro. "
5.	Bile Acids and Salts (Bile Acids)IBA 02/01/1998 - "Bile salts and pigment content were significantly greater in gallstone-free controls than in all other disease study groups. " 11/01/1982 - "To test the comparative efficacy of these two cholelitholytic bile acids, 223 gallstones patients were randomly treated with either UDCA or CDCA at two different doses: 7 to 8 mg per kg per day and 14 to 15 mg per kg per day. " 01/01/2013 - "Effects of Korean red ginseng as an adjuvant to bile acids in medical dissolution therapy for gallstones: a prospective, randomized, controlled, double-blind pilot trial." 02/01/1999 - "In this study we wanted to evaluate the long term recurrence of gallstones after stone clearance with ESWL and oral bile acids, and to assess possible risk and preventive factors of stone recurrence. " 01/01/1999 - "The aim of this study was to evaluate the profiles of fecal bile acid in gallstone patients, in order to estimate the quality and amount of fecal bile acids. "
6.	Glucose (Dextrose)FDA LinkGeneric 02/01/1991 - "Three patients developed a deterioration and one an improvement in their glucose tolerance and three developed asymptomatic gallstones during the year of therapy. " 07/01/2000 - "The results of the study indicate that hyperinsulinaemia may play an important role in the aetiology of gall stones even in individuals without diabetes and with normal serum glucose levels." 03/01/1999 - "Few studies have investigated the relation between glucose tolerance status and ultrasonographically determined gallstone disease. " 01/01/2012 - "Impaired glucose tolerance was found in three of 20 cases (15%), two of whom developed gallstones. " 06/01/2011 - "Here we assessed whether the PNPLA3 p.I148M (c.444 C-G) polymorphism affects glucose and lipid levels and increases gallstone risk. "
7.	BilirubinIBA 03/01/1991 - "Additional physical chemical studies of the interaction of unconjugated bilirubin in model bile solutions will be helpful in further delineating the pathogenesis of both black and brown pigment gallstones." 04/01/2007 - "[Gallstone disease: free radical reactions and the ambivalent role of bilirubin in the pathomechanism of gallstone formation]." 03/01/2009 - "Ternary complexes of albumin-Mn (II)-bilirubin and Electron Spin Resonance studies of gallstones." 11/01/1991 - "The aim of the present study was to analyse bile samples from cases with gallstones by high performance liquid chromatography according to the type of stones present, with special reference to the glucoside and xyloside conjugates of bilirubin, and to investigate their deconjugation. " 09/01/1990 - "The results of this study could hardly be explained by Maki beta-G theory, but were consistent with the assumption that the precipitation-dissolution equilibrium of calcium bilirubinate is the key of pigment gallstone formation, thus the increases of the above mentioned bile components, including beta-G activity, would bias this equilibrium towards calcium bilirubinate precipitation and therefore promote gallstone formation. "
8.	LipidsIBA 08/01/2015 - "The aim of the study was to compare prevalence and outcome of gallstones with different types of intravenous lipids. " 09/01/1990 - "This study confirms previous reports on the association between gallstone risk and serum lipids. " 05/01/1987 - "A study of the biliary lipids in patients with gallstones." 01/01/1982 - "Only 7 subjects turned out to be evaluated for the study of biliary lipids, to the other 15 the development of their gallstones was followed up. " 08/01/2015 - "Prevalence of Gallstones Compared in Children With Different Intravenous Lipids."
9.	Octreotide (Sandostatin)FDA LinkGeneric 08/01/2001 - "The aim of this study was to assess the risk of gallstone formation during treatment with TPN and octreotide separately and in combination. " 01/01/1995 - "Because knowledge of stone composition is essential for studies of their pathogenesis, treatment, and prevention, this was investigated by direct and indirect methods in 14 octreotide treated acromegalic patients with gall stones. " 01/01/1990 - "In contrast to other studies, none of 16 acromegalic patients on long-term octreotide treatment developed gallstones. " 10/01/2014 - "Mean (±SD) duration of octreotide therapy before the development of gallbladder pathology was 4.3 (±4.6 mo), whereas 19 patients were free of gallstones after a follow-up of 53.6 ± 32.9 months on octreotide therapy. " 05/01/2012 - "We report incidence of gall stones in our cohort of acromegalic patients treated with octreotide therapy. "
10.	Simvastatin (Zocor)FDA LinkGeneric 01/01/2015 - "Patients that received simvastatin were more likely to have gallstone-related disorders, alcohol dependence or hypertriglyceridaemia compared with the reference population. " 01/01/2015 - "Robust Poisson regression was used to generate risk ratio (RR) estimates for simvastatin use adjusted for age, gender, race/ethnicity, gallstone-related disorders, hypertriglyceridaemia, smoking and alcohol dependence. " 12/01/2003 - "The animals treated with simvastatin showed gallstone formation in 5/10 (50%) of animals, compared with 6/10 (60%) of control animals. " 12/01/2003 - "The use of simvastatin for the prevention of gallstones in the lithogenic prairie dog model." 08/01/2000 - "Thirty-one gallstone patients were enrolled in the study; 17 were treated with 20 mg simvastatin daily for 3 weeks prior to cholecystectomy and 14 served as controls. "

Therapies and Procedures

1.	Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy 01/01/1999 - "Laparoscopic cholecystectomy appears to be a safe and effective way of treating the most common symptoms related to gallstone disease." 01/01/1993 - "The best treatment for symptomatic or complicated gallstones is laparoscopic cholecystectomy, now performed in all countries throughout the world. " 12/01/2000 - "Whereas laparoscopic cholecystectomy represents the gold standard treatment for gallstones, there is no universal consensus on the optimal treatment of common bile duct (CBD) stones. " 08/01/1995 - "Laparoscopic cholecystectomy has proven to be a safe and effective treatment for symptomatic gallstone disease. " 07/01/2010 - "Laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) has established itself firmly as the 'gold standard' for the treatment of gallstone disease, but it can, at times, be associated with significant morbidity and mortality. "
2.	Cholecystectomy 01/01/2006 - "Cholecystectomy is a safe and most effective procedure that provides ultimate cure for symptomatic gallstone disease." 01/01/1990 - "Cholecystectomy which is the best treatment for gallstones can be performed via laparoscopy in cases of uncomplicated stones. " 02/01/2012 - "Our results raise doubts about the efficacy of cholecystectomy to prevent recurrent AP in patients with the absence of either a significant elevation of liver tests on day 1 of AP or gallstones and/or sludge in the gall bladder on initial ultrasound examination." 01/01/2012 - "Cholecystectomy, gold standard treatment for gallstone-related diseases, is practiced in a high percentage of patients with this condition. " 01/01/2006 - "Also, prophylactic cholecystectomy could be beneficial in certain subgroups of asymptomatic gallstone carriers. "
3.	Lithotripsy (Extracorporeal Shockwave Lithotripsy) 01/01/1990 - "Currently, most protocols evaluating the efficacy of gallstone lithotripsy require a visualized gallbladder on oral cholecystography (OCG). " 11/01/1992 - "Within the past 7 years, gallbladder lithotripsy by shockwaves has been proven to be a safe and effective non-invasive therapy for selected patients with gallstone disease. " 09/01/1992 - "Piezoelectric lithotripsy with the EDAP LT-01 machine combined with adjuvant bile acid therapy results in complete clearance of radiolucent gallstones in selected patients. " 10/01/1989 - "The good results obtained in this case lead us to consider percutaneous ultrasonic lithotripsy a possible alternative to surgical treatment of complicated gallstones." 10/01/1990 - "Extracorporeal pulsating-wave lithotripsy in combination with litholytic therapy is a safe and effective noninvasive method for the management of gallstones in a selected group of patients."
4.	Endoscopic Sphincterotomy 05/01/2000 - "Laparoscopic CBDE is an effective treatment for concurrent gallstones and common duct stones and avoids the potential morbidity of an endoscopic sphincterotomy. " 05/01/1992 - "Endoscopic sphincterotomy appears to be a simple, effective and safe therapeutic modality for the management of biliary calculi." 12/01/2015 - "The aim of this study was to analyze these risks by conducting a long-term follow-up study of patients who underwent treatment for gallstone disease, comparing patients who underwent endoscopic sphincterotomy with those who did not. " 02/01/2015 - "Subsequently, small gallstones in common bile duct were detected and removed by the endoscopic sphincterotomy. " 12/01/2008 - "Endoscopic sphincterotomy does not eliminate the risk of gallstone-related events."
5.	Lasers (Laser) 09/01/1990 - "In view of the extraordinarily diverse backgrounds of researchers in the gallstone field (e.g., internists, surgeons, biochemists, physicists), we believe that the present article (which relies heavily on graphical representations) will afford a better understanding of the usefulness and limitations of laser light-scattering techniques, particularly in their applications to the study of bile." 07/01/2011 - "Gallstones obtained from patients from the north-east region of India (Assam) were studied using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) technique. " 11/01/2008 - "Quantitative analysis of gallstones using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy." 04/01/2001 - "Tissue optical properties and laser parameters govern the mechanism(s) of fragmentation of urinary or biliary calculi. " 12/01/2000 - "Recent technical advances have made the use of laser energy for fragmentation of biliary calculi possible. "