Silent Gallstone in Children: An Epidemiological Study from Shiraz, Southern Iran

Background: Frequent use of ultrasonography in recent years had led to the incidental diagnosis of gallstones in children. There is no information regarding gallstones especially asymptomatic cases in Iranian children. The objective of this study was to review the cases of gallstone diagnosed at our center. Method: All outpatient cases with sonographic diagnosis of gallstone from May 2002 through May 2012, whom had referred to the gastrointestinal clinics of Shiraz University of Medical sciences, were followed. Results: A total of 105 cases (65 male and 40 female subjects), mean age of 5.5 +/- 3 years (range 5 months to 13 years) with diagnosis of gallstone were followed for a mean of 2.3 +/- 2 years. Only one subject had symptoms in favour of biliary disease, all other patients were assumed as having silent gallstone (99%). Also here in this research 85% of our cases had no specific predisposing factor for gallstone. Conclusion: Here we have reported a far more percent of silent gallstones in our children from Southern Iran, compared to previous literature.