Abstract

The major organ/c and inorganic constituents of gallstones and their rate of dissolution by MTBE was separately determined in 40 pairs of gallbladder stones. The stones were categorized into four groups according to how rapidly they dissolved by MTBE., The cholesterol and calcium content together with the type of calcification were found as the three relevant factors influencing the rate of dissolution. The cholesterol and calcium ratios of rapidly dissolving stones were 1.7% and 0.8% while respective values of 0.1% and 14.9% (p>0.05) were obtained for undissolving stones. All of the stones other than cholesterol showed a pattern of dissolution which was characterized by an initial lag phase that followed by a phase of rapid dissolution.