World record?: Cholecystectomy on ‘youngest patient ever’

Three-and-a-half-year-old boy came with 7mm stone in his gall bladder.

ABBOTABAD:

A surgeon at Ayub Medical Complex (AMC) has claimed to have successfully performed a cholecystectomy (removal of the gall bladder) on the “youngest patient ever”.

Dr Sajjad operated on Rehan, who was three and a half at the time of the surgery, on October 21, 2014. He removed the gall bladder which had a 7mm stone, Sajjad told the media at AMC on Thursday.

Referring to the Guinness World Record, Dr Sajjad said American doctors had operated on a five-and-half-year-old girl in October 2007, making Danylle Otteni the youngest person to have her gall bladder removed. He has now created a new record, stated the doctor.

Sajjad said a couple of days ago Bagh Zameen of Battagram district brought his son Rehan to him with stomach pain, nausea and vomiting. After initial investigation, the doctor said he diagnosed the boy with a gall bladder stone, measuring 7mm and admitted Rehan for surgery.



The hour-long surgery was successful and Rehan is now recovering, said Sajjad. “Being the first of its kind, the operation was difficult because of the patient’s age.”

The doctor said this was not a first for just Pakistan but the world. “According to Guinness, the existing world record is a girl who was almost six; my surgery deserves to be given space in the Guiness World Record.”

Published in The Express Tribune, November 7^th, 2014.