A Colombian woman reportedly swallowed at least $US7,000 in a desperate act to hide the money during a fight with her husband, according to doctors in the South American nation who extracted the bills through surgery.

The 30-year-old woman swallowed rolls of $100 bills.

She told the local RCN television channel she had saved up the money for a holiday with her husband after selling several electrical household items.

Doctors said they were able to surgically extract 57 $100 bills from the woman's stomach and intestines.

Director of Surgery at the University Hospital of Santander, Juan Paulo Serrano, said the majority of the bills were surgically extracted from the stomach, while additional rolls would be passed through the colon.

The fact the rolls were not wrapped up or packaged suggest they were not swallowed for any form of illicit transport, Dr Serrano said, but rather were ingested in an "act of desperation".

Reuters