- Porcelain gallbladder is a condition in which the inner gallbladder wall is encrusted with calcium.
- The wall often takes on a bluish hue, moreover, becomes brittle and hard.
- Most patients with porcelain gallbladder are asymptomatic and it is usually an incidental finding on routine examinations, such as, a plain abdominal x-rays or other imaging.
- Other names for porcelain gallbladder are calcified gallbladder, calcifying cholecystitis, and cholecystopathia chronica calcarea [2].
An 83-year-old woman receiving antibiotic treatment for cellulitis presented to the outpatient clinic with complaint of nausea. The patient had also shown improvement over the course of the antibiotic treatment. Her medical history revealed an episode of biliary colic at the age of 40.
There were no abnormal findings on physical and abdominal examination. For further evaluation, a plain radiograph of the abdomen was performed which showed a calcified gallbladder (Panel A). In addition, a computed tomography of the abdomen showed multiple calcified gallstones, including calcification of the gallbladder (Panel B). The findings were consistent with the diagnosis of porcelain gallbladder.
Porcelain gallbladder
Porcelain gallbladder refers to calcification of the gallbladder wall associated with chronic gallbladder inflammation. However, the treatment of asymptomatic patients with prophylactic cholecystectomy has not been established, even though, the condition predisposes to the risk of developing gallbladder cancer.
The patient’s nausea resolved without any further intervention and could have been caused by the antibiotic treatment. In addition to this, the patient’s condition was conveniently managed without surgery because of no ongoing symptoms of gallbladder disease. After the diagnosis, the 83-year-old regularly attended clinic follow-ups and complained of no abdominal symptoms or further episodes of biliary colic.
References
- Morimoto, M., & Mori, N. (2020). A Calcified Gallbladder. New England Journal of Medicine, 383(14), e86.
- Jones, M. W., Weir, C. B., & Ferguson, T. (2019). Porcelain Gallbladder. In StatPearls [Internet]. StatPearls Publishing.