If you are having no symptoms (and the majority of gallstones are "silent"), and your stones are not made up entirely of minerals, you can consider alternatives to breaking up stones and preventing new ones. Only if you have mineral stones or are suffering acute attacks due to severe blockage should surgery be a first option.

If about four fifths the operations should not be done at all, whether by open or laparoscopic techniques, the discussions about one less day in hospital, or half an hour longer in the operating theatre, pale into insignificance.