A man in Shanghai has had nearly 200 bladder stones removed after doctors found blood in his urine.

The man, who has only been named as Zhang, went to the Department of urology at Tinglin Hospital, which is located in the city of Shanghai, which is the country’s most populous urban centre, on the coast of eastern China.

Local media reports that the man suffered a spinal injury over 10 years ago that made him paraplegic in his lower body, which also meant that he could not feel discomfort as a result of the kidney stones.

After doctors noticed blood in his urine, which is called a hematuria, they said that he should have an operation.

The operation reportedly took over 75 minutes, of which removing the 200 stones took over 30 minutes, and surgeons retrieved four or five stones measuring approximately 2 centimetres in diameter (0.7 inches).

The combined weight of the stones was approximately 195 grammes (0.4 lbs).

Zhang is quoted in local media as saying: “If it wasn’t for this hematuria, I wouldn’t have wanted to take out the ‘baby’, but I didn’t expect so much. Fortunately, Dr Pan advised me that an operation was necessary!”