A Case of Milk of Calcium Bile

Milk of calcium bile or limy bile is a rare disorder in which the gallbladder lumen is filled with a thick, paste-like, radio-opaque material. Churchman first reported a case of curious deposition of calcium salts within the gallbladder in 1911. Volkmann first used the term Kalkmilchgalle or milk of calcium bile in 1926. The radio-opaque material is almost entirely composed of calcium carbonate by weight. The mechanisms by which bile turns limy and radio-opaque or the time required for this biochemical alteration to occur are not well understood. The limy bile is found mostly in a gallbladder complicated by cholecystitis. Recently, we experienced a 33 year old woman who had a milk of calcium bile in the gallbladder lumen. We report this case with a review of literature.