- A man with tummy pain went to the ER, where doctors found he had a "giant" gallstone.
- The gallstone measured more than 3-inches long and weighed over 6 ounces, according to the report.
A man with tummy pain had a "very rare," "giant" gallstone measuring more than three inches, according to a report.
Gallstones are pebble-like deposits that form in the gallbladder, which is the organ in the upper right part of the abdomen, just beneath the liver, which stores bile.
The unnamed man, 47, attended the Emergency Room after 12-hours of relatively intense pain in the right side of his abdomen, just below his ribs, and into his back, a surgeon working in Saudi Arabia wrote in the case report published in the Cureus Journal of Medical Science on November 15.
The man felt sick, had lost his appetite, and over the past two to three years had experienced a similar pain after eating, the surgeon wrote.
It's rare for gallstones to be longer than 2 inches
An ultrasound scan revealed that the man's gallbladder was inflamed and contained a "giant gallstone."
Gallstones are common, affecting 10 to 25% of the US population. Older people, those with family members who have had gallstones, people who have obesity, and women are most likely to develop gallstones, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease.
Gallstones can range in size "from a grain of sand to a golf ball," it states. Gallstones that measure longer than about two inches are "very rare," with only a few cases recorded, according to the report.
Most people with gallstones don't get symptoms until they cause complications, for example if the gallbladder becomes inflamed or infected.
Symptoms of gallstone complications can include: abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, and fevers. Anyone with those symptoms should get checked out by a doctor, the NIDDK states.
About a quarter of the nearly 1 million people diagnosed with gallstones in the US each year will need to be treated, usually with surgery, it states.
The man had surgery to remove the gallstone
In this case, the man was hospitalized and surgeons found a giant gallstone that measured 3.4 inches x 1.6 inches x 1.3 inches and weighed more than 6 ounces, or the equivalent about thirty quarters.
"The gallbladder was nearly completely filled with the gallstone," the surgeon wrote.
The surgeon removed it with keyhole surgery and the man was discharged two days after the operation.