A surgery that was carried out for the first time in a Dubai hospital recently saved the life of a patient who was suffering from a huge kidney stone, almost as a size of a chicken egg.
The stone was broken down into smaller pieces by the doctors with the use of the latest ultrasound technology that involved very less surgical intervention.
Lebanese immigrant Habib Al Berry, aged 47, consulted Dr Michel Jabbour, who is a consultant urologist at Emirates Hospital in Dubai and was then diagnosed with an unusually large kidney stone known as “staghorn”.
Berry had been suffering from kidney aches for around seven years and had visited many doctors, who had suggested a full-blown surgery with incisions on the kidney to remove the stones. Since Al Berry was opposed to open surgery, he was looking for another option to solve his situation.
Dr Jabbour stated, “This kind of kidney stone is very rare. A staghorn is a huge collection of saturated stones that starts in the renal pelvis, where the urine collects and branches out to wrap the entire kidney. An infection triggers these stones, and the bacteria begin building up the mass. The stone is called by this name because it quickly branches out and resembles the horns of a stag.”
He further added, “A staghorn can be very risky as it can trigger an infection in the entire kidney and generate sepsis. In this patient’s case, his creatinine levels and other parameters become out of balance, and he could have lost the kidney had it not been removed.”
Dr Jabbour said Al Berry’s kidney stone is estimated to be about 6.6cm square, which is as large as a chicken egg. “This is actually ten times the size of normal kidney stones, which usually measure about six millimetres.”
He also added, “I used an ultrasonic device with a unique probe, made just a small 6mm cut in the patient’s flank to introduce the probe and the scope. With the help of the probe, we broke the stone into tiny pieces and sucked it out. This destroyed the stone. Within a few hours of surgery, the patient’s kidney function was steady, and his creatinine levels came down. The surgery was performed in less than 90 minutes.”
Dr Jabbour also said this was the first time that the process was carried out using the advanced device in Dubai.
Al Berry expressed comfort at being rid of the issue in a way that involved the tiniest surgery and was happy to continue his everyday life within a week.