Doctors remove 10,000 stones from nutritionist's gallbladder in Kolkata

Highlights

• Doctors at Kolkata's MCH extracted more than 10,000 stones from the gall bladder of a 40-year-old nutritionist on Wednesday.
• Doctors suspect that the deposition of cholesterol might have caused the formation of the stones.

KOLKATA: Doctors at Medical College and Hospital (MCH) extracted more than 10,000 stones from the gall bladder of a 40-year-old nutritionist on Wednesday. Dr Rajib Chowdury is now recuperating in the hospital.

The Dum Dum Cantonment resident came to the general surgery OPD at MCHK with abdomen pain about one and half month ago. Investigations by USG of the abdomen detected stones in the gall balder. Chowdhury was admitted in the hospital on Monday. The stones were removed through a micro surgery on Wednesday.

“The USG detected the gallstones but we had no idea that the number of stones would be so high. We counted 10,356 stones and stopped as we got tired. This is the second reported case in Kolkata where so many stones were found in the gall bladder. The first one was when Dr Makhanlal Saha operated upon a patient who had about 12,000 stones,” said Dr Manas Kumar Dutta, assistant professor of surgery whose team conducted the operation under the supervision of department head Dr Sukumar Maity.

According to doctors, the patient had high cholesterol and triglyceride levels. They suspect that the deposition of cholesterol might have caused the formation of the stones. Factors like genetics, sedentary lifestyle (stress and too much junk food) also can lead to stone formation in the gall bladder. The general surgery department at the hospital had last year operated upon a one-year-old with gallstones.

Though the surgery on Chowdhury took only 40 minutes,counting the stones took a much longer time. From Thursday, the patient started taking food orally. Doctors are planning to discharge him in a couple of days.

Chowdhury is attached with All India Institute of Hygiene and Public Health. “He is recuperating well. We should be able to discharge him in a day or two,” Dutta added.