Surgeons Remove Over 200 Stones From Chinese Woman’s Body Because She ‘Skips Breakfast’

July 21, 2017

Over 200 stones were removed from a 45-year-old Chinese woman’s body after a successful operation, which lasted for six and a half hours.

Surgeons performed the procedure on the patient, identified only as Ms. Chen, on July 15 at the Guangji Hospital in Hezhou, China, reports Daily Mail.

Some of the stones collected from her gallbladder and liver were as large as eggs, as shown in the images below.

Generally, people who are obese, diabetic or under medication to lower cholesterol are at risk of getting gallstones. Fasting and having extra estrogen may also lead to the condition, according to WebMD.

Interestingly, her surgeons had an unusual explanation on how she acquired the stones.

Dr. Quan Xuwei, one of the surgeons, claimed that Chen’s gallstone problems were caused by skipping breakfast.

He added that most of his patients who suffer from similar conditions liked skipping or rushing their breakfast, which Chen reportedly had the habit of doing for over a decade. She also ate leftovers often and took her meals at irregular hours.

While Chen experienced abdominal pain over 10 years ago, she only sought medical help when her abdominal pain became “unbearable”.

Quan explains that when a person often skips breakfast, their gallbladder stops shrinking or expanding, causing the bile to build up in the gallbladder, which eventually leads to high cholesterol and calcium levels.

However, experts from the U.K. say that linking eating habits as the cause of gallstones or liver stones is pure “speculation, with no scientific evidence base to support it.”

British Society of Gastroenterology Vice President Dr. George Webster told the Daily Mail that while gallstones are a global problem, the cause is not always clear.

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