Jay W. Marks, MD, is a board-certified internist and gastroenterologist. He graduated from Yale University School of Medicine and trained in internal medicine and gastroenterology at UCLA/Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
Dr. Barbara Kaiser-McCaw Hecht is Director of Hecht Associates, Inc., consultants in Medical Genetics based in Jacksonville, Florida. Dr. Hecht is a Diplomat of the American Board of Medical Genetics both in Clinical Cytogenetic (Chromosome Genetics) and Medical Genetics (Genetic Counseling). Dr. Hecht attended Stanford University from which she received a BA and an MA in Biology.
Frederick Hecht, MD, lives in Scottsdale, Arizona. Dr. Hecht is a Pediatrician and Medical Geneticist and is certified by both the American Boards of Pediatrics and Medical Genetics. Dr. Hecht was born and raised in Baltimore and attended Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H. and the Sorbonne at the University of Paris receiving his BA degree cum laude with distinction from Dartmouth.
The OCG is an excellent procedure for diagnosing gallstones. It finds gallstones 95% of the time. However, the OCG has tended to be replaced by ultrasonography because ultrasonography is slightly better at diagnosing gallstones and can be done immediately without waiting one or two days for the OCG's iodine to be absorbed, excreted, and concentrated.
The OCG also cannot give information about the presence of non-gallstone related diseases, which ultrasonography is sometimes able to do. A limitation of the OCG is that it does not work well when there is more than a minimal amount of jaundice. Fortunately, most people with gallstones are not jaundiced.
As would be expected, ultrasonography sometimes finds gallstones that are missed by the OCG. Less
frequently, the OCG finds gallstones that are missed by ultrasonography. For
this reason, if gallstones are strongly suspected but ultrasonography does not
show them, it is reasonable to consider doing an OCG. So OCGs are still done, and for good reason.
Last Editorial Review: 10/26/2003
Gallstones are stones that form when substances in the bile harden. Gallstones (formed in the gallbladder) can be as small as a grain of sand or as large as a golf ball. There can be just one large stone, hundreds of tiny stones, or any combination. The majority of gallstones do not cause symptoms.
Digestion is the complex process of turning food you eat into the energy you need to survive. The digestive process also involves creating waste to be eliminated, and is made of a series of muscles that coordinate the movement of food.
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