Why are women more prone to developing gallstones?

The most important deciding factor for surgery is the presence or absence of symptoms related to the gallstone. It is common to pick up incidental gallstones on routine scans intended for other reasons. However, up to 80% of such gallstones are not producing any symptoms and are best left alone. For stones which are causing pain or discomfort, the current recommendation is surgical removal. The reason for the above recommendation is essentially a balance between the potential benefit and harm with the surgical approach versus that of leaving the gallstones alone.

Symptomatic gallstone is an indication for surgery. There have been attempts in the past to blast the stones with shock wave therapy and also melt the stones using special enzymes, but the recurrence rate was very high. Enzyme therapy is also very expensive and in the long term will cost more than surgery. Laparoscopic gallstone surgery is safe in trained hands and can even be done as a day procedure. Talk to your surgeon about it.