Abstract

Six obese adolescents (4 girls, 2 boys) with radiolucent gallstones were treated with bile acids (chenodeoxycholic or ursodeoxycholic acid). Each had lithogenic bile and no predisposing factors for pigment stone formation. Within 12 months, the bile became unsaturated with cholesterol and the gallstones had disappeared in 4 cases and were decreased in size in two.