Woman suffering stomach ache and heartburn is stunned after doctors find 12,000 GALLSTONES inside her


By MADLEN DAVIES FOR MAILONLINE-27 November 2015

Minati Mondal, 51, had suffered stomach pain and acid reflux for 2 months

Was admitted to hospital where scans revealed she had gallstones

During an operation doctors were shocked to find 11,950 stones inside her

This may be a new world record and specimen could be kept in London

A doctor was astonished to remove a staggering 11,950 gallstones from inside an Indian woman  - thought to be a new world record.

Minati Mondal, 51, had been suffering from crippling stomach pain and acid reflux for two months.

Two weeks ago, she was admitted to Debdoot Sevayan Hospital in Kolkata, West Bengal, in eastern India.

After conducting tests and ultrasounds, doctors found she was suffering from a severe case of gallstones.

Minati Mondal, 51, had a staggering 11,950 gallstones (pictured) removed in an hour long operation - possibly setting a new world record

These are balls made of cholesterol and salts that form in the gallbladder, a little pear-shaped organ underneath the liver that stores bile.

But they did not expect to find such a huge number of stones.

Dr Makhan Lala Saha, a gastrointestinal endosurgeon at the hospital, said he was anticipating large number of stones but was still shocked when the number crossed the 5,000 mark.

He removed nearly 12,000 stones in an hour long laparoscopic surgery, where surgeon access the inside of the abdomen and pelvis through a 'keyhole' cut, without having to make large incisions in the skin.

Dr Saha said: 'I was astonished to see the large number of stones that we extracted from the gall bladder of this patient.

'I had never thought a gall bladder could contain so many stones.

Ms Mondal (left) had been suffering from chronic abdominal pain and acid reflux for two months. Dr Makhan Lala Saha (right), the gastrointestinal endosurgeon who removed the stones said: 'I had never thought that a gall bladder could contain so many stones'

'It took my assistants four hours to count the number of the stones that were between 2mm and 5mm in size. It took us 50 minutes to remove them.'

The doctor has written to the Royal College of Pathologists in London to keep the specimen in the museum.

And it is now thought the huge amount of gallstones removed could be a new world record.

Dr Saha added: 'Two months ago, I had operated on a girl who had 1,110 stones but despite the shocking number, I found that in 1983, doctors in Britain had removed 3,110 stones from a German patient's gall bladder.

'But I feel this number can replace the past record since the current number is three times more than the record.'

Ms Mondal was discharged from the hospital two days ago and is now recovering at home.

WHAT ARE GALLSTONES?  

Gallstones are made of cholesterol and salts that form in the gallbladder, a little pear-shaped organ underneath the liver that stores bile. 

Bile ducts are the tiny tubes that carry bile — a liquid that helps the body digest fats — from the liver to the gallbladder and then into the digestive system.

While you can live with gallstones with no symptoms, if they start to block the gallbladder they cause pain and nausea and a potentially fatal infection.

They can also stop the flow of bile out of the gallbladder and liver, so it backs up - causing jaundice.

While gallstones are common, a fatty diet can raise the risk, especially in women, although it's not clear why.