Woman Holds Record for Gallstones

German Pensioner in Bid for Gallstone World Record

BERLIN (Reuters) - A German pensioner who had 3,110 gallstones removed says she hopes to have the feat recognized as a world record by the Guinness Book of Records.

Ursula Kuschfeldt, 67, from Neustrelitz in eastern Germany, said she was galled when she heard recently that the removal of 831 stones from a Romanian was being hailed as the record mark.

"I knew that wasn't right because I had 3,110 stones removed in an operation in 1981 and I can prove it," she said on Thursday. "The doctor said they threw a few away too."

Gallstones are buildups that accumulate in the gall bladder, an organ that helps the body digest fats. Kuschfeldt said she now planned to inform Guinness of her tally, but that they would have to accept documentary evidence for the total figure cited.

She stores the small brown and black lumps in a glass tube.

"A few have been lost," she said. "Because I kept on having to get them out for friends, some wound up on the carpet and got hoovered up."