At Bhaktivedanta Hospital in Mumbai, India, even surgeons were stunned when 2,350 stones were removed from a patient during gallbladder surgery.

A 50-year-old woman, whose name remains undisclosed, had been suffering from gallstones since at least 2016 but hadn’t sought professional medical help, instead seeking alternative treatments. However, nothing helped, and the pain grew increasingly severe, leading her to seek medical advice at Bhaktivedanta Hospital.

There, they performed an ultrasound and discovered that her gallbladder was almost filled with small stones. Urgent surgery was needed. Amazingly, it only took 30 minutes. A team of doctors led by Dr. Shah quickly removed the gallbladder using laparoscopy (through a small incision).

Later, they opened him and counted the stones, realizing that such a large number of stones in a single gallbladder is extremely rare. However, it’s not a record. According to doctors, the largest number of stones—3,110 in total—was removed by British doctors from the gallbladder of a German patient in 1983.

After the operation, the woman is recovering well.

The gallbladder is a small organ in the upper right abdomen that stores bile produced by the liver. Bile helps digest fatty foods. Anatomically, it is part of the liver.

The development of gallstones can cause severe abdominal pain, vomiting, jaundice, and various other complications, which, if surgery is delayed, can even prove fatal.