Cholelithiasis - Symptoms, Causes, Images, and Treatment Options

Diseases

Highlights & Basics

Key Highlights

Gallstones (cholelithiasis) are highly prevalent, but most are asymptomatic. Cholelithiasis is the most common gastrointestinal condition to require hospitalization in developed countries.
Common risk factors include older age, a family history, female sex and pregnancy, obesity, rapid weight loss, and certain drugs.
Abdominal ultrasound provides effective diagnostic imaging.
Laparoscopic cholecystectomy is definitive treatment for symptomatic patients.
Complications such as cholecystitis, cholangitis, and pancreatitis develop in 3% of symptomatic patients annually.

Ultrasound of acute cholecystitis and presence of gallstones: the arrow points to a gallstone in the fundus of the gallbladder with its echogenic shadow below

Courtesy of Charles Bellows and W. Scott Helton; used with permission

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Definition

Epidemiology

Etiology

Pathophysiology

Images

Ultrasound of acute cholecystitis and presence of gallstones: the arrow points to a gallstone in the fundus of the gallbladder with its echogenic shadow below
Gallbladder ultrasound demonstrating cholelithiasis with characteristic shadowing

Citations

Key Articles

European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL). EASL clinical practice guidelines on the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of gallstones. J Hepatol. 2016 Jul;65(1):146-81.[Abstract][Full Text]
ASGE Standards of Practice Committee; Buxbaum JL, Abbas Fehmi SM, Sultan S, et al. ASGE guideline on the role of endoscopy in the evaluation and management of choledocholithiasis. Gastrointest Endosc. 2019 Jun;89(6):1075-105;e15.[Abstract][Full Text]
Tazuma S, Unno M, Igarashi Y, et al. Evidence-based clinical practice guidelines for cholelithiasis 2016. J Gastroenterol. 2017 Mar;52(3):276-300.[Abstract][Full Text]

Other Online Resources

NIDDK: gallstones

Referenced Articles

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