Viscosity and osmolality of abnormal biles.

The mean osmolality of bile from the common bile duct is similar to that of bile obtained from the gallbladder of patients with non-functioning gallbladders, and both means are significantly lower than the mean of bile in functioning gallbladders. The mean viscosity of bile from both functioning and non-functioning gallbladders is on average considerably greater than that from the common bile duct, and the mean viscosity of bile from non-functioning gallbladders is greater than that from functioning ones. The presence of much mucus in gallbladders containing stones is likely to account for these differences in viscosity. The composition of the gallstones does not appear to have any influence on these observations, but the number of patients in each group is too small for the differences to be significant.