The coming battle over gallstones. How will surgeons, gastroenterologists, and radiologists fare?

The standard treatment of symptomatic gallstones--initial patient evaluation, confirmation of the presence of stones by diagnostic imaging, and surgical removal of the gallbladder (cholecystectomy)--has become institutionalized in modern medical practice. In recent years alternative treatments have been developed, but none has dislodged cholecystectomy from its preeminent position. Should a new therapy, extracorporeal shock-wave biliary lithotripsy, prove to be broadly successful, it could profoundly change the future workloads of general surgeons, gastroenterologists, and radiologists, the three specialists most likely to have significant roles in providing this new treatment.