The lifetime risk of developing ureteric calculus (a concretion of minerals formed within the body, especially in the kidney or gallbladder) is about 5 percent and they are usually small.

The concretions which exceed 5cm in size are termed giant ureteric calculi or stone. It is found very rare. The ureteral stones are very small and about 50 percent of them are less than 5mm in diameter.

Almost 85 years back, Taylor reported a giant ureteric stone of 21.5 cm in size. Taylor’s case of giant ureteric stone was published in International journal during 1934.

“Natasha’s ureteric stone was measured 22 cm in total and weighed 60 gms. The total length of the ureter is approximately the same length. It is the longest ureteric stone reported till now,” said Dr Sachin Kathuria, consultant, department of urology at SGRH.

Natasha landed to the emergency of the SGRH hospital where urologists diagnosed her with a very large stone in the urinary pipe.

“I had been feeling uneasy for the last one month. I felt that some kind of heavy material was inside in my stomach. But there was no pain. I went to the gynecologist. Many investigations were done and it found some heavy object laying in my stomach,” Natasha told TheHealth.Today.

The team of urologists was headed by Dr Sachin Kathuria including Dr Ajay Sharma and Dr Vikram Batra. The surgery lasted for four hour long exhaustive procedure.

“The use of surgical robot made it possible to remove such a long stone in a single surgery and allowed the stone removal with minimum scar and quick recovery. Such large stones were traditionally removed by open or large incision procedures,” Dr Kathuria informed.

Doctors say that prevalence of stone in bladder is reported high among people in north India and prevention can only be done by adequate fluid intake. If detected in time the surgery is scar free.

Post surgery, Natasha is feeling much better and comfortable.