[Gallstone ileus--still a current disease].

Two cases of gall-stone ileus during the past months have encouraged us to discuss the epidemiology, pathogenesis, diagnosis and therapy. This pathology is not as rare as one thinks and represents 23% of cases of mechanical ileus of the small intestine in patients over 65 years of age, thus being the third cause after stenosis due to carcinoma and incarcerated hernia. The importance of this illness is due to two factors: the diagnostic difficulties because of a periodic symptomatology with often a lack of typical radiologic signs and the still important mortality of 5 to 10% today. We present the casuistic of seven cases which have occurred over the last 15 years in our hospital and compare our experience with those of the literature. We discuss the therapeutic problem of enterolithotomy or one-stage repair. The main point for a reduction in mortality is an early diagnosis with the consequent reduction of the time from the appearance of the ileus to the operation.