Gallstones were collected from patients with cholelithiasis during laparotomy and analyzed for cholesterol, bilirubin, lecithin, palmitate and total bile acid by the method
i of infrared spectroscopy.
In the present study, gallstones were classified with respect to absolute amount
s
of cholesterol into 3 types; cholesterol, pigment and mixed stones. Of a total of 48 cases studied, 11(23%) were cholesterol, 18(38%) pigment and 19(39%) mixed stones. The content of cholesterol in gallstone was found to be highest in the cholesterol stone and lowest in the pigment stone.
No significant differences in contents of bilirubin were observed among the 3 types of gallstones, but the highest value for ratio of content of cholesterol to bilirubin was observed in the cholesterol stone and the lowest in the pigment stone. The contents of lecithin, palmitate and total bile acid appeared to be lower in the cholesterol stone than in the pigment or mixed stone. The ratios of content of cholesterol to lecithin,
( palmitate and total bile acid significantly increased in the order of the pigment, mixed and cholesterol stones. These results indicated that ratios of content of cholesterol to lecithin, palmitate and total bile acid as well as content of cholesterol and ratio of content of cholesterol to bilirubin could be used as parameters in classifying and characterizing the gallstones.
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