Abstract

Dr. Khushbakht Jabbar*, Dr. Muhammad Zaryab Haider and Dr. Kashif Fareed

ABSTRACT

Background: Gallstones are formed within the gallbladder or in biliary tract. They can be termed as cholesterol stones whose major constituent is cholesterol or pigment stones, which mainly are composed of bilirubin or there can be calcium and oxalate stones too. Objective: To establish the composition of stones found within the gallbladder after cholecystectomy for symptomatic gallstones. Methodology: This cross sectional study was conducted in Services Institute of Medical Sciences, Lahore, from 1st August, 2017 to 30th June, 2018, with a sample size of 200 consecutive patients of cholecystectomy for symptomatic gallstone. After examining the physical characteristics of the stones (color, number, shape and surface) were analyzed by semi- quantitative colorimetric analysis. Demographic data of patients, morphology of stones and the percentage different chemical components were noted on pre-established performa and analyzed by SPSS software version 22. Results: The mean age of the 200 patients was 37.82 ± 11.67 years and 90% patients were female. Overall 10% cases had solitary stone while 90% cases had multiple stones and 25% patients had light brown stones, 30% had dark brown stones, 35% had gray stones and 10% had black stones. In this study, 85% cases had mixed stones whereas 15% had cholesterol stones. The mean percentages by weight of calcium, cholesterol, iron, phosphorus and bilirubin were 50± 10.59%, 27.45± 11.57%, 14.3± 6.28%, 13.25± 8.36% and 5.1± 2.46% respectively. Conclusion: It is concluded that gallstone disease is common in third decade of life and mixed stones is the most frequent variety of gallstones and calcium is the most abundant substrate of the gallstones.