Dhule urologist Guinness record for stone count

MUMBAI: A urologist from Dhule has made it to the Guinness Book of World Records for extracting 1,72,155 stones from a single kidney.

Dr Ashish Patel, director of Tejnaksh Healthcare’s Institute of Urology in Dhule, conducted the surgery on one of his patients, Dhanraj Wadile (33), on December 8, 2009 and successfully removed all the stones. Wadile was suffering from severe abdominal pain.

“The patient had pelvi-uteric junction obstruction. His left kidney was sagging from its normal position. Clinical investigations revealed that he had a very high number of stones,”said Dr. Patel. The stones were meticulously counted by a junior doctor from the hospital and a diamond counter in a month’s time. “He is an expert in counting small diamond pieces.”

After the stones were counted, Dr Patel applied for the record and sent them as evidence. He was declared a record holder on October 20, 2010. The patient, Dhanraj, had to spend Rs 30,000 for the surgery.

“I was relieved of pain immediately after the surgery,” he said.