We analyzed here 57 cases of choleli-thiasis who were finally operated upon afterapparent failure from galvano-acupunctureor plate electrode composite treatment.The causes of failure in eliminatingstones after the composite regimen may besummarized as follows.（1）No stone in thebiliary system （8 cases）

including acutecholecystitis 1 case;acute suppurative cholan-gitis

2 cases;stricture of both the right andleft hepatic duct

1 case;carcinoma of thehead of pancreas

1 case;acute pancreatitis

1 case;leiomyoma of the bile duct

1 case;pressure on the common bile duct by aduodenal stump

1 case.These cases intima-ted that when there are obvious signs ofimflammation in the absence of signs andsymptoms

biliary tract infection should behighly suspected.On the other hand

whenbiliary obstruction is predominant withoutsignificant imflammatory signs and syrup- toms

the most likely cause would be anobstruction from the bile duct itself or apressure from outside the bile duct.（2）Stricture of lower end of common bile duct（16 cases）

characterized by a long course ofillness with frequent relapse of chronic sym-ptoms and slow regression.（3）Adhesionof biliary stone with common bile duct（5 cases）

characterized by prominent sym-ptoms of cholangitis.（4）Severe imflam-mation of the common bile duct（7 cases）

characterized by obvious tenderness over theright epigastrium lateral to the midline justbelow the xiphoid process.（5）Gaint calculus（5 cases）.（6）Stones densely packed in thecommon bile duct（5 cases）.（7）Stones inthe gallbladder（2 cases）.（8）Interruptionof composite regimen（9 cases）These are the principal causes of non-elimination of cholelithiasis in our report.However

2 or more factors might be presentsimultaneously in some cases.