Daily fluctuation of lithogenicity in bile in the postoperative period in cholecystectomized patients.

The lithogenicity of bile samples taken over 14 hrs from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. on two consecutive days at 4-5 hrs intervals has been measured in 7 freshly colecystectomized patients on the 7th to 9th postoperative days. The values have also been estimated additionally in 4 patients 1 and 2 hrs after meal intake. It was found that the lithogenicindex is higher at 16 and 21 hrs than at 7 and 11 hrs. The lithogenicity began to increase 2 hrs after lunch. The observed difference between our results and those of other authors could be due either to the changed enterohepatic circulation before the begin of our study or to the different types of populations studied.