Elemental Analysis as a Strong Tool for the Determination of Gallstones Composition

Elemental analysis of C, H, N, S and Ca was used for theclassification of gallstones from 94 patients from the Western Regionof Saudi Arabia. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) wasused to provide rapid qualitative information about the gallstonescomposition. The density, color and surface of the stones were foundto give a good indication of stones composition. From the studiesmade, it was found that 64.9% of the stones analyzed were cholesterolstones, 25.5% were mixed stones, which contain cholesterol and somecalcium salt. The rest of the stones were rare stones which containeither calcium carbonate or a mixture of calcium carbonate and ammoniumand magnesium salt.