Doctors at a city-based private hospital were astonished when they found hundreds of small stones in a Somalian’s kidney. They suspect the man suffers from a unique condition that causes his kidneys to produce more stones.
The patient from Galkayo in Somalia Abdi Rahman had been suffering with a dull backache for three years before he a visited a doctor in his home town. A scan revealed several small stones and multiple large stones in both kidneys.
An open surgery was performed on his left kidney eight months ago and three large stones were removed. However, the surgery left him with an infection and dissuaded him from going ahead with surgery on the right kidney.
Medication
“That is when he came to us. His left kidney was infected and could not be operated upon right away. We stabilised him with medication before attempting an endoscopic surgery on right kidney,” said V. Surya Prakash of Virinchi Hospitals, where the surgery was performed three days ago.
The doctors here removed one large stone measuring three centimetres and then found several hundred smaller stones in the right kidney.
“Some of the stones may have fallen on the floor during removal. We estimated more than 700 small stones. The maximum that I have come across may be around 100 or 150,” Dr. Prakash said showing several small sediment-like objects in a box.
The hospital will now analyse the chemical nature of the stones to gain insight into what is causing Rahman, a teacher, to produce stones. Though doctors believe it could be genetic, the patient says nobody in his family has a history of the condition.
