A surgical team at Trincomalee District General Hospital has removed a bladder stone weighing 3 kilograms and 100 grams from a 52-year-old man, in an operation the doctors involved believe may be the largest of its kind performed anywhere.
The surgery was carried out on Friday, August 14, by a team led by Consultant Urologist Dr. Pragaladhan Balakrishnan. The patient, a resident of Trincomalee, had been admitted after difficulty passing urine, and examinations found the stone in his bladder, Hiru News reported.
“Initial examinations revealed that the patient had a massive bladder stone. The case was subsequently referred to our specialist team,” Dr. Balakrishnan said. “According to available records, it is the largest bladder stone ever documented and removed through surgery. The patient is currently in very good health.”
Hiru named the other members of the team as Dr. M. Rishly Maheel, Dr. J.M. Ihsan, Dr. C. Prahalathan and anaesthetist Dr. Amila Jayakada.
Hospital Director Dr. Sandamali Samarakoon said the operation was completed with the resources the hospital had on hand. “The medical team and hospital staff made the best possible use of the available resources to carry out this complex procedure,” she said, calling the result a reflection of the capability of the public hospital system.
Doctors said the patient is recovering well and is expected to be discharged within days.
How the claim compares
The medical team cited a 2003 case in Brazil as the previous benchmark. Guinness World Records lists the largest bladder stone as one weighing 1.9kg, removed from a 62-year-old man in São Paulo in August 2003. At 3.1kg, the Trincomalee stone would be substantially heavier, though no independent ratification of a new record has been announced.
Stones of that size are rare in part because they are usually caught and broken up long before they grow. Kandy National Hospital commissioned a Rs. 200 million lithotripsy machine in April that treats kidney and bladder stones with shock waves rather than surgery.
Accounts differ on the type of stone
NewsFirst described the object as a bladder stone. Hiru’s headline and opening paragraph called it a kidney stone, although its own account states that doctors located the stone in the patient’s bladder. Several Tamil-language outlets also reported it as a kidney stone. Guinness treats bladder and kidney stones as separate record categories.
