This book, the proceedings of the Falk Syposium No. 139 on -Gallstones: Pathogenesis and Treatment-, held in Freiburg, Germany, on January 15-16, 2004, reflects the tremendous advances in the field of biliary diseases both at the genetic and cellular as well as the clinical levels.

In industrialized countries, gallstones are a frequent clinical entity with a prevalence of 10-15%. In clinical practice one can differentiate between cholesterol stones, black pigment stones and brown pigment stones. 80-90% of gallbladder stones are cholesterol stones, 10--20% are black pigment...