A 64-year-old woman has had a giant gallstone removed from her bile duct that is believed to be the largest in the world.

The gallstone, lodge in the woman’s bile duct, was 12×8×7cm in size whereas the normal diameter of the average patient’s bile duct stone is around 1cm.

According to local reports, it was the largest single bile duct stone to have been removed from a patient in the world.

Ms. Zhao, who comes from the city of Jinshi in the Chinese province of Hunan, said she has suffered from abdominal pain since she was a child.

Over 30 years ago, she underwent an operation due to severe infection, sepsis and shock caused by gallstones.

Six months later, she had to have a 12-hour operation for hepatolithiasis, the presence of gallstones in the biliary ducts of the liver.

Several years after the procedures, Ms Zhao began to experience pain in her abdomen and chills again.

She followed a course of medication, however, her discomfort worsened, and earlier this month a CT scan revealed large stones in the common bile duct and multiple stones in the liver.

She was admitted to the Hunan Provincial People’s Hospital in the city of Changsha under the care of Doctor Wu Jinshu and underwent an operation on 15th July.

A medical team, aware of the woman’s medical history with stones, performed bile duct exploration, hardscope exploration, and holmium laser lithotripsy as well as biliary drainage and reconstruction surgery, according to local media.

Head nurse Hu Xiahong said the patient was able to start a liquid diet two days after the operation as well as get out of bed to start moving around.

Three days after the operation, a CT scan showed that all bile duct stones had been removed and the woman was discharged on 26th July.