[Role of cholestanol in the pathogenesis of cholesterol cholelithiasis]

The proportion of cholestanol/cholesterol in hepatic and cystic bile was evaluated using capillary gas-chromatography in subjects with disturbances in the biliary system (biliary dyskinesia, chronic acalculous cholecystitis, chronic calculous cholecystitis). The proportion was also measured in bile "paste" and cholesterol choleliths. With progression of cholesterol cholelithiasis, the proportion cholestanol/cholesterol increases, reaching its maximum in the stone the center of which accumulates crystals of cholestanol-cholesterol dihydrate. An original conception is proposed on pathogenesis of cholesterol cholelithiasis in man. It considers cholestanol as factor-reason underlying various pathological processes running in cholesterol cholelithiasis. Cholestanol is suggested to mark cholesterol cholelithiasis.