PREVALENCE OF GALLSTONES IN PATIENTS UNDERGOING ABDOMINAL ULTRASOUND AT TERTIARY CARE HOSPITALS, DERA ISMAIL KHAN

Abstract

Background: Gallstone disease is a frequent hepatobiliary condition which may cause serious morbidity and often necessitates surgical treatment. The study was aimed to find the prevalence of gallstones among people attending abdominal ultrasound in tertiary hospitals of Dera Ismail Khan and to describe the distribution of gallstones among them by age and gender. Method: It was descriptive cross sectional study of four months period, conducted at DHQ Hospital and Bio Med Center, Dera Ismail Khan. Patients were recruited by non-probability convenience sampling and a total of 245 patients, irrespective of gender, were recruited for abdominal ultrasound with the exclusion of patients with previous cholecystectomy. A self-administered questionnaire was used to gather the data on demographic characteristics, abdominal pain, and ultrasonographic findings (presence, number, location, and size of gallbladder) which was analyzed with SPSS version 22. Results: Of the 245 participants, 141 (57.6%) were female and 104 (42.4%) were male. 82 patients (33.5%) had gallstones and 163 (66.5%) did not have gallstones. 180 patients (73.5%) reported their abdominal pain. A large proportion of patients with gallstones (29.8% of all the patients) also had multiple stones (28.6% of all the patients) in the lumen of the gall bladder. Gallstone prevalence was highest for the age group 31 to 40 years, and 24.1% of the patients had an enlarged gall bladder. Conclusion: There were about 1/3 of patients in this cohort referred for abdominal ultrasound who had gallstones, and there was a higher prevalence in adults aged 31-50 years and females. These results contribute to the concept of targeted screening and early diagnosis in the at-risk population.

Keywords: Gallstones; Cholelithiasis; Abdominal Ultrasound; Prevalence; Gallbladder.