Cholesterosis of the gall-bladder : a clinical and experimental study

The occurrence of cholesterol deposits in the wall of the gall-bladder has appeared to the writer to be of more than passing interest, for the following reasons:- (i) Although cholesterol is of widespread distribution and may be laid down in many sites throughout the body in large collections, yet little is known either of its real function in regard to the general body economy or of the conditions which control its deposition. Such deposits consequently attract interest in inverse proportion to our knowledge of their causation. (2) The biliary tract is known to bear very particular relationship to cholesterol, for, with the exception of the milk during lactation, the bile forms by far the most important vehicle for its excretion, and it therefore becomes a very attractive hypothesis that the gall- bladder, as a specialised part of the biliary tract, bears some close relationship to this excretory process and that this relationship renders it particularly subject to the deposition of cholesterol. Part II. of this thesis is devoted to a consideration of these and other aspects of the disease, and to a description of experimental work which.has been carried out in relation to them, Firstly, Cholesterosis of ... (continues)