RESUMO
A retrospective analysis was performed of case histories and of results of sonographic investigations in liquidators of the Chernobyl accident suffering from chronic abnormalities of the biliary ducts. Patients with cholecystitis were studied for the biochemical composition of their bile. The incidence of the gallbladder disorders (chronic cholecystitis, angiocholitis, dyskinesias of the biliary ducts) has not changed much over the last 10 years having elapsed since the accident. The biochemical composition of bile was found to have been changed to a greater extent in the liquidators of the Chernobyl accident than it was in those having avoided danger of exposure to ionizing radiation. Mechanisms of origination of cholelithiasis are discussed on the basis of investigations designed to study biochemical properties of bile and findings secured with the aid of the ultrasound techniques.