Doctors stunned after operating on suspected cancer patient to find 838 GALLSTONES inside her

DOCTORS were staggered when they operated on a woman they suspected had cancer - only to find a staggering 838 gallstones.

Pushpa Devi, 60, couldn't eat and had excruciating stomach pain and intermittent fevers for about a year.

A CT scan showed a mass near her gallbladder, and surgeons suspected she had cancer - until they found the true cause of her pain.

They removed the 838 "balls" caused by a build up of salts and she left hospital a few days later.

Dr Amit Javed, who led the team of doctors that operated on Devi at Delhi's Fortis hospital, said: "When the patient came to us, she was very sick.

"Also, the wrong diagnosis where local doctors who asked her to take antibiotics had further deteriorated her condition."

Following the instructions of the neurologist that she was suffering from gallbladder cancer, the surgeons opened her stomach only to find something mind boggling.

Dr Javed said: "We were completely surprised and shocked to find as many as 838 stones in the patient's gallbladder.

"It was a very unusual and complex case."

Dr Javed added: "The patient's situation was such that it required removing of a part of the liver along with the gallbladder.

"The case was very complicated, but our team managed to pull if off with ease."

Last year doctors had removed 12,000 stones from the gallbladder of a 49-year-old man in Jaipur.

We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at tips@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 782 4368