This Article  • References  • Full text PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Citing articles on Web of Science (65)  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

An In Vitro Study

Mark S. Hickman, MD; Wayne H. Schwesinger, MD; James D. Bova, DO; William E. Kurtin, PhD

Arch Surg. 1986;121(3):289-291.

Abstract
• The chemical dissolution of gallstones cannot be accurately predicted since available biliary studies often do not distinguish stone types. To elucidate the predictive value of computed tomography (CT), 65 gallstones were studied in vitro. Thirty stones were analyzed by both CT and infrared spectroscopy. The CT number (Hounsfield unit [HU]) was significantly different for cholesterol and pigment stones (–87.3±14.5 vs 162 ±27.6 HU) and demonstrated a linear correlation with cholesterol content. Another 35 gallstones were tested for dissolution in a 200mM chenodeoxycholate solution after CT analysis. Thirteen stones (50%) with CT values less than 50 HU completely dissolved in three weeks, whereas none of the stones with CT numbers greater than 50 HU dissolved. These findings suggest that the CT analysis of gallstones allows accurate gallstone classification and is useful in predicting solubility.

(Arch Surg 1986;121:289-291)

Author Affiliations
From the Departments of Surgery (Drs Hickman and Schwesinger) and Radiology (Dr Bova), University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and Audie Murphy Memorial Veterans Hospital, and the Department of Chemistry, Trinity University (Dr Kurtin), San Antonio, Tex.

Footnotes
Accepted for publication Dec 2, 1985.

Read before the Ninth Annual Surgical Symposium of the Association of Veterans Administration Surgeons, Tampa, Fla, May 9, 1985.

Reprint requests to General Surgery (112G), Audie Murphy Memorial Veterans Hospital, 7400 Merton Minter Blvd, San Antonio, TX 78284 (Dr Schwesinger).

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

The Munich Gallbladder Lithotripsy Study: Results of the First 5 Years with 711 Patients
Sackmann et al.
ANN INTERN MED 1991;114:290-296.
ABSTRACT