Delhi: Doctors remove ‘largest kidney’ in India from 56-year-old man

The current Guinness World Record for the heaviest kidney removed is held by doctors from a Dubai hospital, who had removed a 4.25 kg kidney in 2017 from a patient suffering from the disease. However, doctors found two other cases where the kidney that was removed weighed much more.

“After checking medical literature, we found two earlier reports of heavier kidneys being removed — a 9 kg (USA) and another 8.7 kg (Netherlands). We believe this is the third heaviest kidney ever to be removed. We found that no one in India has reported removing such a heavy kidney,” said Dr Sachin Kathuria, Consultant, Department of Urology, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital. Doctors are planning to apply for a Guinness World Record.

According to doctors, the patient visited the hospital last month with pain and serious infection. The patient was on antibiotics but stopped responding to them, after which doctors conducted a CT scan to find the cause.

Explained: What happens when a kidney weighs more than a baby?

“This is a genetic condition in which, after a certain age, the kidney becomes defunct and keeps forming a cyst. As a result, functional tissues get replaced by the cyst. A cyst is like a balloon with water but it’s not urine, so the weight is because of the fluid in the cyst. Generally, we don’t remove such kidneys in patients who are undergoing transplant or are on dialysis, but in this case, due to the pain and infection, we had to operate. The patient’s other kidney is heavier than this but we had to remove this one because it was symptomatic,” added Dr Kathuria.

The patient has been discharged and will be on dialysis.

For those with the disease, kidneys are removed if there is infection, bleeding or a renal tumour. The disease is found in 1 among 700-1,000 individuals, and there are 12.5 million cases worldwide.