Intravesical foreign bodies: a case report and a review of the literature

Eshiobo Irekpita¹, Peter Imomoh², Emeka Kesieme³, Vincent Onuora^4
1Department of Surgery, Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Nigeria; ²Department of Family Medicine, Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital, Irrua, Nigeria; ³Department of Surgery, Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital, Irrua, Nigeria; ⁴Department of Surgery, Igbenedion University, Okada, Nigeria

Aim: We report a case of intravesical polyvinyl-coated electric wire in the urinary bladder.
Case report: A 34-year-old man presented in our clinic with irritative lower urinary tract symptoms. Three weeks earlier he had seen and felt a wire in his urethra of which he was unaware of the origin. Radiologic evaluation revealed an electric wire completely coiled up in the urinary bladder. It was removed through a suprapubic cystotomy.
Discussion: Patients are usually too ashamed to admit the cause of an intravesical foreign body, which is often sexual or erotic in origin. Radiologic evaluation usually reveals the nature and size of the foreign body in the bladder of patients evaluated for recurrent urinary tract infection. Open surgery or an endoscopic approach may be used for their extraction.

Keywords: intravesical, electric wire, complications, treatment