Doctors at a hospital in Ho Chi Minh City have removed a coral-like kidney stone weighing over 400 grams from an elderly male patient, which they said is a rare case.

Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Phuong Tam, of Xuyen A General Hospital, located in the outlying district of Chu Chi, said on Sunday they have performed an operation on T.H.D., a 75-year-old male patient, and removed a large kidney stone shaped like coral.

The stone measures 10 centimeters in length and seven centimeters in width and weighs around 420 grams.

Eight smaller stones measuring some 10 millimeters in diameter each were also taken from D.’s kidneys during the surgery.

The nine stones weigh a total of roughly 440 grams.

D. was rushed to Xuyen A Hospital earlier this month with intense pain in his right hip and a high fever.

Following several tests, doctors detected an abnormally large coral-like stone in his right kidney along with urinary inflammation and respiratory disorder.

The patient then said doctors had detected stones in his kidneys some 30 years ago, but he ignored the diagnosis since the pain abated.

D. is currently recovering from his operation, and his renal functions are now stable.

Dr. Tam noted D.’s coral-like stone is quite rare for its large size, heavy weight and presence in his kidney for such a long time.

In a similar vein, doctors at a hospital in the Mekong Delta province of Soc Trang also removed a kidney stone the size of an orange from Tran Quang Minh, 50, earlier this month, local newswire VnExpress reported on Friday last week.

The perfectly round kidney stone, which looked just like a miniature boulder, weighed around 400 grams.

Minh was rushed to the hospital in late February with an acute agony bout in his left hip.

As he was too frail to sustain an operation then, the surgery to remove his stone was delayed until March 3.

Minh is currently making a good recovery.

According to his relatives, the man suffered constant abdominal and back pain over 10 years ago.

Doctors then informed him of the presence of a stone in one of his kidneys, which was some 2.3 millimeters in diameter then.

The stone remained untreated over all the years, however. 

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