A Japanese septuagenarian had to undergo surgery because he found himself with a skipping rope stuck in his bladder, after having voluntarily introduced it into his urethra.
- Pelvic radiography can detect most intravesical foreign bodies. However, the 3D reconstruction scanner is necessary to determine their size and shape.
- Management of patients with intravesical foreign bodies includes analgesic drugs to relieve pain and anticholinergic drugs to alleviate voiding symptoms.
He couldn’t believe their eyes. In Japan, doctors from Dokkyo Medical University (in Soka) have identified a skipping rope entangled in the bladder of a 79-year-old man. According to the report, published in the journal Urology Case Reportsthe patient presented to the hospital, feeling discomfort and a burning sensation when urinating. “He had no history of urological or psychiatric disorders. No distension of the lower abdomen was observed during the physical examination and no foreign body protruded from the urethral meatus”, wrote the practitioners.
Scanner: “a foreign body wrapped in the shape of a thread” found in his bladder
Health professionals decide to examine his bladder by performing an ultrasound scanner. They discover “a large object accompanied by acoustic shadows”. To better identify it, doctors perform an X-ray, which revealed “a foreign body coiled in the form of a thread”. After these various examinations, the septuagenarian admitted to having voluntarily introduced a skipping rope into the urethra of his penis.
Practitioners performed a cystoscopy, which allows observation of the bladder and urethra. “There was not enough room in the bladder to find the end of the object because the bladder was filled by the rope”, they specified. Further examinations were done to assess the size and shape of the foreign body. “Transurethral extraction was difficult given the length of the cord and its entanglement in the bladder. Intravesical cutting or untangling was also considered impossible, given the capacity of the bladder,” added the experts.
A cystotomy was performed to remove the stuck jump rope
In order to remove the jump rope lodged in his bladder, the doctors performed an operation under general anesthesia. They performed a cystotomy, specifically they made a small 4 cm incision in the bladder. “The tangled jump rope was completely removed. Its length was 230 cm. The postoperative period was uneventful. He was followed without any urethral stricture, urinary tract infection or recurrence of urethral foreign body insertion”concluded the practitioners.
