Experimental gallstones: an adventure in biological geology.

.... The Framingham Study was the first attempt to discover just how commonly gall bladder disease occurs . . . in the United States. That such a survey should not have been made before 1966 is sad evidence of an apathetic attitude toward the cause of gallstones.... At the age of fifty-five to sixtyfour, 10 per cent of men and 20 per cent of women have gallstones, or, in absolute terms, 2.5 to 3.0 million people in a decade of life that qualifies them for peak responsibility but not for Medicare. In the entire population, some 15 million people are probably carrying stones in their little reservoir for bile-or would be carrying them were it not for attrition by surgical removal of about one third of a million gall bladders annually. The hospitalization and medical expenses entailed must come close to half a billion dollars a year. Nor is the threat of gallstones to the national security to be discounted; four of the last six Presidents have had cholecystectomy.1