Gallstone disease in north India: clinical and ultrasound profile in a referral hospital.
 We studied the prevalence of gallstones in patients with upper abdominal pain, heaviness, or discomfort by ultrasound examination of the gallbladder.
 The actual ultrasound examination was performed by a clinical gastroenterologist blinded to the symptoms.
 Of 1,680 consecutive dyspeptic patients, 500 (29.8%) had gallstones.
 The gallbladder was contracted in 450 (91.2%), normal-size in 36 (7.2%), and distended in 8 (1.6%).
 Biliary colic was more frequently the presenting complaint in patients with a contracted gallbladder than in those with normal size gallbladder (p less than 0.001).
 Dyspepsia was more frequent in the presence of a normal size gallbladder than a contracted one (p less than 0.001).
 We conclude that ultrasonography of the gallbladder by the clinician has a high diagnostic yield, and the symptom complex has an excellent correlation with the sonographic appearance.
