title: Gallstone disease in north India: clinical and ultrasound profile in a referral hospital.
abstract: We studied the prevalence of gallstones in patients with upper abdominal pain, heaviness, or discomfort by ultrasound examination of the gallbladder. The actual ultrasound examination was performed by a clinical gastroenterologist blinded to the symptoms. Of 1,680 consecutive dyspeptic patients, 500 (29.8%) had gallstones. The gallbladder was contracted in 450 (91.2%), normal-size in 36 (7.2%), and distended in 8 (1.6%). Biliary colic was more frequently the presenting complaint in patients with a contracted gallbladder than in those with normal size gallbladder (p less than 0.001). Dyspepsia was more frequent in the presence of a normal size gallbladder than a contracted one (p less than 0.001). We conclude that ultrasonography of the gallbladder by the clinician has a high diagnostic yield, and the symptom complex has an excellent correlation with the sonographic appearance.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi.
authors.forename: M P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Sharma
authors.forename: H V
authors.initials: HV
authors.lastname: Duphare
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nijhawan
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dasarathy
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002769:Cholelithiasis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D014463:Ultrasonography