Determination of Gallbladder Stone Composition with Ultrasound-In Vivo and in Vitro Studies

摘要

The determination of the composition of gallbladder stones on the basis of (noninvasive!) ultrasound scans has been a subject of intense research. One sound reason for the interest is that it is advantageous to select the theroapy on the basis of the composition. Especially, detection of calcification is important in order not to employ lithotripsy, as the pulverized calcium compounds cannot be dissolved and washed away with solvent medicines. Opinion is divided as to whether a reliable method of composition determination is possible at all with ultra-sound especially on the basis of in vivo B-scans. Thus/l/and /2/ claim that it is possible to detect calcification whereas. /3/ and /4/ say that it is not so.