Cholelithiasis in persons under 25 years old. Clinicopathologic review of 96 cases

Ninety-six of 683 patients undergoing cholecystectomy at the Naval Regional Medical Center, Long Beach, Calif, from 1967 to 1974 were between 7 and 25 years old. Although females predominated in ratio of 4:1, the sex incidence was equal when nulliparous females were compared with males. Signs and symptoms were nonspecific in 70%, leading to delay in proper diagnosis in 26%. Only two patients had an underlying blood dyscrasia. Oral cholecystography proved to be the most reliable diagnostic test. Moreover, the incidence of choledocholithiasis was 4.1%, approximately one third less than in older age groups.