The etiology of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) is not clear, and most agree that intrahepatic bile duct stones increase the risk of ICC, but what about extrahepatic bile duct stones? There are conflicting opinions and inconsistent conclusions. Researchers conducted a meta-analysis to investigate the relationship between common bile duct stones and gallbladder stones and the risk of ICC. The investigators searched PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science databases for cohort and case-control studies on the association between common bile duct stones and gallbladder stones and the risk of ICC. The final study included seven case-control studies involving 123,771 participants, of whom 4763 (3.85%) were ICC patients and 119,008 were non-cancer control patients. The study data showed that preexisting bile duct stones (common bile duct stones or common bile duct stones with intrahepatic bile duct stones) increased the risk of ICC (OR 17.64, 95% CI 11.14-27.95). The presence of common bile duct stones alone also greatly increased the risk of ICC (OR 11.79, 95% CI 4.17-33.35). Gallbladder stones increased the risk of ICC to a small extent (OR 2.00, 95% CI 1.16-3.42), although there was significant inter-study heterogeneity (I (2)? =?78.5%). The findings suggest that bile duct stones, including common bile duct stones, are an important risk factor for intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma and that patients with gallstone disease should be clinically vigilant and monitored as necessary.