It was evaluated the late results of human gallstones placed into peritoneal cavity of rats. Five groups were created. In the first (group A) five rats were submitted only to laparotomy and handling of abdominal cavity, in the second (group B) five rats were submitted to laparotomy and a stitch was placed into right abdominal wall and in mesenterium between the ileus and cecum, in the third (group C) ten rats received a gallstone left free into abdomen, in the fourth (group D) ten rats received a gallstone fixed into right abdominal wall and in the fifth (group E) ten rats received a gallstone fixed in mesenterium between the ileus and cecum. One rat in each group was selected to be use as a pilot and were re-laparotomized after 1 month and 3 months, in order to look for any possible alteration. All rats were dead after five months when the abdominal cavity was observed and specimens were collected around the gallstones to histopathology. ln groups A and B there were not important macroscopic alterations. The gallstones were not absorved in groups C, D and E and were involved in a transparent tissue or blocked by omentum and intestinal loops. The rat used as a pilot in group E had a sub- intestinal occlusion and the gallstone was not found after 5 months. We supposed that it migrated to into the bowel. Histopathology did not showed any alteration in groups A and B but showed fibrosis. inflamatory cells, hemossiderin, calcifications and a foreign body like reaction in groups C, D and E (except the pilot rat). It was concluded that gallstones were not absorbed and a foreign body like reaction appeared. The gallstones were involved with fibrosis and inflamatory cells.
Laparoscopic cholecystectomy; Gallstones; Peritoneum; Foreign body reaction; Rats