Intrigued by this green bean? Meet a porcelain gallbladder

Although this cutie might seem like a green bean, it’s actually a gallbladder showing what doctors call a porcelain gallbladder.

Also known as calcified gallbladder, calcifying cholecystitis, or cholecystopathia chronica calcarea, the disease is the result of extensive calcification of the gallbladder. Its picturesque name refers to the bluish discoloration and brittle consistency of the gallbladder wall that can be seen during surgery.

According to the Revista Médica de Costa Rica y Centroamérica, this disease was first described in 1831 in France, but the term porcelain gallbladder was not used until 1929.

In the Spanish-speaking world, the term vesícula en [or de] porcelana is widely used, along with colecistitis calcificante, vesícula escleroatrófica, and colecistopatía calcárea crónica.