Measurement of calcium content of gallstones by computed tomography and the relationship between gallbladder function and calcification of gallstones.

To evaluate the relationship between gallbladder function and calcification of gallstones, we studied gallbladder contractility by oral cholecystography, the computed tomography (CT) number of stones for 30 gallstone patients, calcium content of 13 stones operatively extirpated, and the degree of inflammatory change in 13 surgical gallbladder specimens. There was significant correlation between the calcium content and CT numbers of stones, and 1% of the calcium content of gallstone was approximately equal to 40 Hounsfield Units (HU) of the CT number. The calcium content of stones in patients with normal gallbladder contractility was extrapolated to be below 1.5%, while that with poor contractility ranged from 0% to 21%. Additionally there is a possibility that calcium content increases, related to the inflammatory change of gallbladder. Hence our results suggested that measurement of the CT number of stones is useful to evaluate the calcium content of gallstones, and that the gallbladder contractility could be one of the factors to influence calcification of stones.