Pathologic Correlation of Gallstones

Introduction Cholelithiasis has been described as a disease of With the improvement in the longevity of man, an increasing incidence of gallstones and complications thereof is to be anticipated; i. e., parenthetically, then, one should add that cholelithiasis is a disease of an civilization. Although a large bibliography exists identifying surveys of clinical cases relating to etiological factors for gallstones, remarkably few autopsy reports purport to do the same thing. In many respects, necropsy studies alone could contribute such information. The existence of pathologic conditions of related and unrelated organs are often not recognizable by clinical or laboratory methods alone. In an aging population, it becomes increasingly important to know what coexistent or complicating disease the physician must be prepared to meet. It was felt, then, that the data from a large autopsy material such as ours would fill a few of the gaps in our knowledge. Material