Gallstone composition in Mexican patients.

Prevalence of gallstone disease in Mexico is similar to that found in some European countries. Patients from those industrialized Western countries primarily develop cholesterol gallstones; however, we do not have information related to the chemical composition of gallstones in the Mexican population. The aim of this study was to determine the physiochemical characteristics of gallstones from patients undergoing surgery for symptomatic cholelithiasis. We analyzed gallstone specimens from 59 patients (17 male and 42 female) from five Mexican states and Mexico City by X-ray diffraction. The chemical analysis revealed that 71.2% of the patients had stones of mixed composition. We concluded that the chemical composition of gallstones found in Mexican patients is similar to that found in patients from other Western countries.