World’s heaviest kidney stone weighing 700 grams, successfully removed at Delhi hospital

Delhi-based Sri Balaji Action Medical Institute (SBAMI) has set a milestone in the medical field by operating upon 45 year old Mehfooz Ahmed and removing the world's heaviest renal stone. A total of 5 stones were extracted from the patient's kidney and out of these, one stone weighed 700 grams with a diameter of 9 cm. Doctors at SBAMI claim that this is the heaviest renal stone extracted worldwide till date and the hospital aims to enter the Guinness Book of World Records for this achievement. Previously, a 620 gram kidney stone was recorded to be the heaviest to be removed from a patient in Pakistan.

When Mehfooz was brought to the hospital, he had complaints of passing blood in his urine and pain in his left flank. On getting X-ray and an ultrasound done, it was detected that there were giant renal stones in his left kidney. Further, CT scan and DTPA renal scan revealed that his kidney was remarkably enlarged although it was functioning well. It was also found out in the tests that the patient had a congenital defect called Pelvi Ureteric Junction (PUJ) obstruction which is a blockage at the junction of the kidney and ureter. (Read: Health tip: Prevent kidney stones with coconut water!)

When the patient was first seen by Dr. Pawan Mehta (Senior Consultant, Urology) in the OPD, he was taken aback by the gigantic size of the stone shown in the plain X-ray and got it repeated to reconfirm it. He along with the other senior consultant in urology, Dr. G.P. Sharma, then decided to operate upon him on an immediate basis. They conducted a 4 hour long open abdominal operation (retroperitoneal left flank approach) during which they removed 5 renal stones which altogether weighed around 800 grams. After the removal, the doctors did a corrective reconstructive surgery for his PUJ obstruction to widen the opening so as to prevent further chances of recurrence.

According to Dr. Mehta, 'This is the first time in the history of medical science that a stone of such weight has been removed from a patient's kidney. Kidney stones generally occur due to solid concretions formed from dissolved urinary minerals. This was further precipitated in Mehfooz's case because of his PUJ obstruction. This, in addition to the mammoth size of the stones, required us to do a more detailed planning and strategizing before the surgery as compared to other cases of kidney stones.'

Mehfooz is from an economically weaker section and SBAMI provides special facilities for such patients, thus it was ensured that he was best taken care of without putting any financial burden on him and his family. The patient is now recuperating well at the hospital and will be discharged in 3-4 days.

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