Medications for Gallstone Dissolution

Introduction to Ursodiol Therapy

• The American College of Physicians notes that ursodiol is limited to only 20% of cholecystectomy candidates and requires daily dosing for up to 2 years, with surgical cholecystectomy preventing future pain, complications, stone recurrence, and gallbladder cancer—outcomes that medical dissolution therapy cannot achieve 1

Treatment Recommendations

• The American College of Physicians recommends that for most patients with symptomatic gallstones, cholecystectomy remains the definitive treatment, reserving ursodiol for highly selected patients with small, radiolucent, uncalcified stones in a functioning gallbladder who are poor surgical candidates or refuse surgery 1