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.