Kidney Donor
Kidney donor listens to a doctors instructions as he waits to donate a kidney as part of a five-way organ transplant swap in New York. Reuters/Keith Bedford

Indian surgeons have surgically removed a kidney weighing 2.75 kgs from a patient at the Sri Ganga Ram Hospital (SGRH) in New Delhi. The kidney was the same size as that of a new baby, and claimed to be the world's largest.

45-year-old Subhash Yadav was rushed to the hospital after complaining of severe abdominal pain and blood in the urine. Yadav was reportedly suffering from autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) since a few years and had been on dialysis since 2014. In ADPKD, formation of multiple kidney cysts, lead to enlargement of the kidney that may result into chronic kidney disease.

After analysing the case history of the patient, the doctors at the SGRH decided to remove both his kidneys and transplant the new ones. The decision was taken immediately after Yadav's condition continued to deteriorate even at the hospital.

In a three-hour-long surgery, doctors removed Yadav's first kidney which weighed around 2.75 kgs. During another surgery that took place after a week, the surgeons removed the patient's second kidney, that weighed around 2.5 kgs. Overall, Yadav was carrying an additional body weight of 5 kgs because of the genetic disorder.

"We found the procedure quite challenging. Normal kidneys weigh 130 grams, approximately. This kidney weighed 2.75 kg, which is 20 times more and was stuck to the surrounding intestines. "Even the second kidney of the patient also weighed 2.5 kg and had to be removed in an another surgery a week later," said consultant urological surgeon at SGRH, Dr. Manu Gupta.

According to the Guiness Book of World Record, the largest kidney till date weighed around 2.15 kgs, with 33.72 X 14.14 X 15.05 cm dimensions. However, the dimensions of Yadav's kidney were reported to be 33 X 20 X 20 cm.

ADPKD is a genetic disease that affects 1 in every 1,000 individuals. Some of its symptoms include haematuria, abdominal mass, abdominal pain, hypertension and kidney failure.

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