![](/fileadmin/_processed_/3/e/csm_0921-202-IOTM_Hero_30a09c621a.png)
This microscopic image depicts a gallstone sitting in the neck of a gallbladder – a rare sight, because gallstones are usually hard to cut and only rarely show their stunning rings microscopically. Maybe the rings of this gallstone, like those of a tree, carry a meaning – but, as far as I know, nobody has ever described the meaning of these rings.
![](/fileadmin/_processed_/7/6/csm_0921-202-IOTM_In-Article_3610c4688c.png)
Medical Director and Chairman of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and Medical Director of Transfusion Services at UHS-Wilson Medical Center and Binghamton General Hospital; Clinical Professor of Pathology, SUNY Upstate Medical University, Binghamton, New York, USA.