Role of dissolution therapy in the management of asymptomatic cholelithiasis

Background and Objectives: Symptomatic gallstones are easy to treat, unfortunately however asymptomatic gallstones are as easy to treat. This creates a problem for health care planners in the form of the financial implications involved, since asymptomatic gallstones are even more common than gallstones associated with symptoms and require no surgical intervention, while the funds diverted towards dealing with them drains the health care establishment of much needed funds in an era of costly health care. In this review we attempt to clarify the fact that asymptomatic gallstones need no intervention in most cases, thereby saving the patient unnecessary surgery and the health care establishment costs, both in the financial form and in manpower. Materials and Methods: This study is based on 25(twenty-five) patients came at RIMS, Ranchi with Gallstone disease on the period of April 2015 to September 2016. Patients who can benefit from this treatment are those who have small gallstones may be less than 1.5cm in diameter and which have high cholesterol content. Results and Conclusion: My data confirm that UDCA can dissolve radiolucent gallstones even at 4 mg/kg, a dose which after 6 months of treatment induced stone reduction or disappearance in 33% of patients. The success rate improved at the higher doses, 50% of patients showing partial or complete dissolution with 8 mg/kg and 65%with 12 mg/kg. Therefore, I conclude that there is a relationship between the dose employed, over the range of 4-12 mg/kg, and the response in terms of stone dissolution at 6 months.