Gallstones in inflammatory bowel disease

Chronic disease of the terminal ileum is associated with a high prevalence of gallstones. To decide whether the ileal location of the disease is responsible for this finding, we determined the prevalence of gallstones in 189 patients with all types of inflammatory bowel disease. The prevalence of gallstones in patients with disease involving the terminal ileum (regional enteritis and granulomatous ileocolitis) was 28.2% compared to a prevalcolon (ulcerative colitis and granulomatous colitis),P<.001. The prevalence of gallstones in a hospital comparison population, age and sex matched to the regional enteritis-granulomatous ileocolitis group, was 11.7%,P<.01. In patients with disease of the ileum, the presence of gallstones was correlated with the length of ileum involved (P<.001), ileal resection (P<.02), and duration of disease (P<.001). The data suggest that the ileal location of the disease is of major importance.