Prevalence of Thyroid Disorders in Patients of Gall Bladder Stones: A Prospective Study

Abstract

Background: Gall bladder stones are one of the commonest abdominal disorder requiring hospitalization and surgery in India. In Europian countries more than 10% prevalence of gall bladder stone has been recorded. Different studies suggested that sluggish movement of bile during hypothyroidism may induce formation of stone in gall bladder. Moreover, use of thyroxine for dissolving gall bladder stone has been suggested in studies. However, relation of thyroid hormones and gall bladder stone is still unclear. Therefore, present study was designed to assess if there is any relation between thyroid hormones disorders and gall bladder stones. Methods: It was cross sectional type of study which was conducted in departments of general surgery of TMMC & RC, Moradabad. This study was carried out from April 2017 to December 2017. Study population included 100 patients of cholelithiasis undergoing for cholecystectomy. Surgical profile along with full history including name, age, sex etc was recorded in the study. Similarly, full history of control group subjects was taken. Thyroid hormones in serum total tri iodothyronine (T3), free thyroxine (FT4), and TSH were measured by Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) method. Results: Gall bladder stone were more common in female patients (60) in comparison of male patients (40). Hypothyroid disorder was found in 20% male gall bladder patients. Whereas, 7.5% hyperthyroid disease in male cholelethiais patients. Euthyroid status was observed in 72.5% male gall bladder patients. Hypothyroid disorder was found in 14% female gall bladder patients. Whereas, 7% hyperthyroid disease in female cholelethiais patients. Euthyroid status was observed in 65% female gall bladder patients. Conclusion: Findings of the current study suggest that female population suffers more in comparison of male population. Further, prevalence of gall bladder stones were more in 51 to 60 years age group population. Further, no definite relation was observed between thyroid hormones disorders either hypothyroid or hyperthyroid and gall bladder stones. However, more studies of on larger populations are required to assess if there is any relation between thyroid disorders and gall bladder stones.

The role of routine thyroid assay in the management of gallstones

“…The study by Vivek et al 17 showed that gallstone occurred in the age group of 50-60years. AK Singh et al 9 showed that 75% of all his cases were more than 41years of age and 60% of these were above 50years of age. Thus, showing that increasing age is a risk factor for gallstone disease.…”

“…This change in the rate may alter the composition of bile and affect the gall bladder motility, thus playing a key role in the formation of gallstones. 9 Animal model studies showed that thyroid dysfunction, either hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism promotes the formation of cholesterol gallstones by different mechanisms. 10,11 But human studies showed that the gall stone formation was mainly attributed to the hypothyroid state.…”

Thyroid function and gallstone disease: is there an association?

“…However, no definite relation was observed between thyroid hormones disorders and so he concluded that thyroid dysfunction was not linked to cholelithiasis. 22 A study conducted by Zaini and Zwain et al, in Iraq, showed that there is no significant relationship between hypothyroidism and gallstones in both genders (p=0.12). However, gallstone patients between the age group of 51-60 years should be checked for serum TSH, T3 and T4, because there was a relatively high incidence of hypothyroidism observed in this age group.…”