Gallstones and uterine fibroids

In a series published in 1961, an unusual frequency of hysterectomies for uterine leiomyomas (fibroids) was reported in women with gallstones. The purpose of this study was to confirm the association between gallstones and uterine leiomyomas with a patient control study and to investigate its physiopathologic basis comparing the cholesterol saturation of bile in women with gallstones, in women with leiomyomas but no gallstones and in those in the control group with no gallstones or leiomyomas. Patients admitted to the surgical department have, routinely, echography of the gallbladder before and manual exploration of the pelvic floor during surgical intervention. For the first part of the study, we collected information concerning the diagnosis of leiomyomas from the operating room registers and about the diagnosis of gallstones from the clinical records. In 1982, 42 of 139 women operated upon consecutively for gallstones and five of 69 operated upon for other diseases of the gastrointestinal tract had leiomyomas, a statistically significant difference (chi-square test, p less than 0.001). This difference persisted stratifying women with gallstones and those in the control group for age. In the second part of the study, we examined the bile collected at duodenal drainage after gallbladder stimulation with cholecystokinin, in 11 young women with radiolucent gallstones (echography and cholecystography), in ten women with leiomyomas (gynecologic examination and pelvic echography) but no gallstones (echography) and in 11 women with no leiomyomas (gynecologic examination or pelvic echography) or gallstones (echography). Cholesterol, phospholipids and total bile acids in the biliary tract were analyzed with standardized enzymatic methods. The cholesterol saturation index of the biliary tract was higher in patients with leiomyomas than in those in the control group (Wilcoxon rank sum test, p less than 0.01) and similar to that of women with radiolucent gallstones. These data suggest that gallstones and leiomyomas are associated diseases, probably sharing a common cause.