Massive Kidney Stone Sets New Record

Surgeons in Sri Lanka have removed the largest and heaviest kidney stone on record from a 62-year-old patient, according to Guinness World Records.

The stone measured 5.26 inches in length and 4.15 inches in width, and weighed in at 1.76 pounds, according to the publication.

It broke the previous size record, set in 2004 when a 5.11-inch stone was removed from the kidney of a man in India. It also beat the previous weight record of 1.36 pounds, set in 2008 by a man in Pakistan, according to Guinness World Records.

The publication identified the patient as Canistus Coonghe, a retired soldier. The stone was in his right kidney and was removed by Dr. Kugadas Sutharshan and the urology team at Army Hospital in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The team performed a pyelolithotomy, surgically removing the stone via an incision on June 1.

Despite the large stone, Coonghe’s kidney was functioning normally, the publication reported, and he is recovering well. His liver, gall bladder, pancreas, and spleen were described by his surgeons as normal in size, though his prostate was enlarged.

A video posted by Agence France-Presse shows the moment the stone was removed from the patient. Sutharshan holds it up for the camera before placing it in a metal pan for measurement.

David Goldfarb, MD, a nephrologist at NYU Langone Health in New York City, tweeted that he wasn’t sure it was indeed a record, noting a nearly 2.5-pound stone that was about 6.7 inches in diameter. That stone was removed from a patient in Hungary in 2009.

Goldfarb added that he thinks neither are kidney stones, but instead are bladder stones. He said he suspects the 2009 stone was likely a calcium phosphate stone because it was white, but he wasn’t sure about the composition of the Sri Lankan patient’s stone.

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