Bro has 16mm gallstone, the doctor can't rectify if it's cholesterol stones or pigment ones. can he use ursodiol or actigall or urso medication and see if they dissolve instead of gallbladder removal?

Poor efficacy: Meds are used only when surgical intervention would be a direct threat to the person's life--usually someone already critically ill in the icu--since they are not that great at "dissolving" stones. They also tend to only temporize, as do not dissolve, just someone shrink to reduce obstruction causing immediate problem. Answer to reduce risk of return is removal. It is a common operation.

If he has symptoms: Non operative measures fails , only best option is very low risk surgery , it does not matter what types of stones they are , dissolving stones by medications has given uniformly unsatisfactory results , speak to his surgeon.

Risk of gallstones: Gallstones remain asymptomatic or cause life threatening infection and obstruction. Docs recommend gallbladder removal when gallstones are diagnosed and patient has symptoms, bloating, belching, pain. The risk/benefit analysis favors gallbladder removal before life threatening complications occur. Dissolving a stone is reserved for patients too high risk for surgery. Be well.