Great leaps in management of cholelithiasis during the past 50 years

Cholelithiasis has still been a common and endemic disease damaging people′s health in our country. Management modes and prognosis of this disease have been changed and improved greatly in the past fifty years. Based on our own clinical practice and experience in the People′s Hospital of Hunan Province, we reviewed aspects concerning on diagnosis, principles and technical considerations of surgical treatment, summarized background and changes in the past almost half century, which reflected our unremitting efforts and distinctive contributions in management of cholelithiasis. Our experience demonstrated that cholelithiasis should not be considered as " a gradually disappearing disease" , difficulties and perplexities in dealing with such disease would still be arduous challenges for surgeons, although rates of stone residue and reoperation decreased dramatically. Key words: Calculi/DI/TH; Choledocholithiasis/DI/TH; Bile ducts, intrahepatic/PA