International Surgery Journal | May 2018 | Vol 5 | Issue 5 Page 1978
International Surgery Journal
Murugesan S et al. Int Surg J. 2018 May;5(5):1978-1980
http://www.ijsurgery.com pISSN 2349-3305 | eISSN 2349-2902
Case Report
Porcelain gall bladder: a case report
Sowmya Murugesan, Chandru R.*, Ramya Ramakrishnan, Rajiv Raj, Kishore Kumar G.
INTRODUCTION
Porcelain gallbladder is rare condition with an incidence
of 0.06 to 0.8% and is associated with chronic
cholecystitis.
1
The pathogenesis of wall calcifications is
not clear, though may result from inflammatory scarring
of the gallbladder wall.
The incidence of carcinoma in porcelain gall bladder is
between 5 % and 12 %.
2
Hence, Prophylactic
cholecystectomy should be considered.
CASE REPORT
A 45-year-old female was admitted with complaints of
intermittent episodes of right hypochondrial pain on and
off for the past two months associated with vomiting. No
history of fever or jaundice was reported. Her medical
history included hypertension.
Figure 1: USG abdomen showing dense shadowing in
the gall bladder.
Abdominal examination showed minimal tenderness in
the right hypochondrium. Liver function test was within
normal limits. Ultrasound abdomen revealed contracted
gall bladder, with multiple calculi, largest measuring
6mm and wall thickness was 3 mm (Figure 1).
ABSTRACT
Porcelain gall bladder is a rare entity and a morphological variant of chronic cholecystitis. Dystrophic calcification
along with inflammatory scarring of the wall gives the porcelain nature to the gall bladder. Patients are mostly
asymptomatic and incidentally diagnosed on X-ray, ultrasound or CT abdomen. In the early stages they can be a
surprise as only a histopathological diagnosis. Prophylactic cholecystectomy is recommended in view of high risk of
malignancy.
Keywords: Carcinoma of gall bladder, Cholecystectomy, Porcelain gall bladder
Department of Surgery, Sri Ramachandra Medical College and Research Institute, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Received: 13 February 2018
Accepted: 09 March 2018
*Correspondence:
Dr. Chandru R.,
E-mail: chandru684@gmail.com
Copyright: © the author(s), publisher and licensee Medip Academy. This is an open-access article distributed under
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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18203/2349-2902.isj20181624