Biliary tract microbes and common bile duct stones: current status and prospects

Common bile duct stones is a common digestive system disease, and about 5%−30% of patients with cholelithiasis are complicated with common bile duct stones. It poses significant challenges to clinical diagnosis and treatment. Although its occurrence is related to traditional factors such as abnormal bile composition and biliary dynamics disorders, the exact pathogenesis has not been fully clarified. In recent years, with the rapid development of high-throughput sequencing and metagenomics and other microbiome technologies, researchers have begun to pay attention to the role of biliary microbiota in the formation of common bile duct stones. More and more evidence indicates that the biliary tract microbes may has been associated with the occurrence and development of stones. This review firstly examines the literature implicating between biliary microorganisms and different types of common bile duct stones. We discuss the various mechanisms of action of biliary tract microorganisms in the occurrence of common bile duct stones. We also evaluated the specific value of microbial markers for diagnostic typing and prediction of recurrence.