Occurrence of cholesterol crystals in human bile.

The occurrence of cholesterol crystals was studied in 20 consecutive gallstone patients with functioning gallbladders. The frequency with which crystals were found rose sharply with the number of stones. Gallbladder bile was found more often to contain cholesterol crystals than hepatic bile of the same individual. Such crystals were absent in T tube drain bile from 10 consecutive choledochostomy patients, studied after the reestablishment of the enterohepatic circulation for at least five days. In gallstone patients in whom the gallbladder was visualized at cholecystography the hepatic bile contained cholesterol crystals more often than in patients with gallbladders not so visualized. In the latter patients the crystals tended to disappear after prolonged fasting. Bile analysis showed hepatic bile of patients with non-functioning gallbladders to be less lithogenic than bile in cases with functioning gallbladders. In the former group bile contained relatively more chenodeoxycholic acid than in the latter. The composition of bile with cholesterol crystals did not differ significantly from that of bile without crystals. In the final analysis it is important to identify possible factors responsible for the precipitation of cholesterol from supersaturated bile.