Frequency of cholelithiasis in alcoholics

RESUMO

In order to determine the frequency of biliary lithiasis in alcoholic patients without signs of hepatic cirrhosis, we submitted 106 male alcoholics (mean age, 42.2 + or - 11.2 years) to ultrasound examination of the biliary system. Cholelithiasis was present in 6 (5.6 percent). We did not observe any association between the quantity of ethanol consumed and/ or the time of consumption and the presence of cholelithiasis. There was no significant difference between the frequency of cholelithiasis in these patients and that found in autopsies carried out on 716 male patients (6 percent) at the Hospital de Clínicas, Universidade Federal de Uberlândia, during the period 1982 to 1993. thus, we conclude that in the cases we examined, alcoholism did not represent a risk factor for biliary lithogenesis