In a globally rare case, a pregnant woman in southwestern city Langzhong of Sichuan Province underwent surgery to remove a foetus growing on her liver, Chengdu Business News reported.

Yang Xiongye, vice president of the Langzhong Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, said if such growth continued the woman’s liver may have ruptured, poisoning her blood and threatening her life.

The woman, 30, had been pregnant for two months. The embryo was not found in previous medical checks, though doctors later discovered a fertilized egg outside the uterus and on top of the liver, reports china.org.cn.

It took 10 doctors and nurses about four hours to finish the surgery that included removing the woman’s gallbladder.

Doctors said she is recovering well after three days.

To date, a total 22 such extreme abdominal pregnancies, where the embryo or foetus is growing and developing outside the womb, were reported in the past 60 years across the world.