80 hard stones removed from MP woman’s gall bladder without cuts

Vadodara: As many as 80 hard stones were removed from the gall bladder of a 50-year-old lady from Madhya Pradesh (MP), who was suffering from severe abdominal pain since the last two months.
The woman’s entire biliary system was fully stuffed with stones which were removed without a single incision.
“The patient was in extreme distress. Upon investigations, she was suspected to have multiple stones and hence without wasting any more time, we planned for endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) procedure,” said Dr Dhaval Dave, gastroenterologist at Parul Sevashram Hospital. Doctors were startled to see her biliary system. “We started removing the stones from intrahepatic duct, hepatic duct, common bile duct and we around 80 stones of various sizes up to 2 cm size till the ampulla,” he said
“But we could complete the procedure in two hours without any intra-operative bleeding. With a special balloon, the tract was dilated. The stones were pushed into the intestinal cavity from where they would be gradually excreted with faeces,” he said.
Usually, such cases are seen more in northern and central parts of the country. “Prolonged fasting, diet with excessive fat content are some of the reasons for formation of such stones. These stones if not removed timely also pose a risk for cancer. Hence it is crucial to remove them,” said hospital’s medical director Dr Geetika Madan Patel.