Retrieval of 159 magnetic balls from urinary bladder: A case report and literature review

Foreign body in urinary bladder is an unusual finding in urology emergency, which has always caused wide attention. In this case report, we presented a 28-year-old unmarried male who was admitted to the emergency room with magnetic balls in his bladder. An abdominal plain X ray showed metallic dense shadow in the pelvic region. The foreign body was removed under modified cystoscopy and 159 magnetic balls were detected. The patient was discharged without any surgical or postsurgical complications. Cystoscopy is a better option for dealing with a large number of magnetic balls in urinary bladder.

Foreign body in urinary bladder is an unusual finding in urology emergency, which has always caused wide attention. Intravesical foreign bodies are usually found as a result of iatrogenic injuries, self-insertion, sexual abuse, assault, and migration from adjacent sites.1 Foreign bodies in bladder in previous reports are wide variety including electrical wires, pencil, bullets, intrauterine contraceptive devices, parts of catheters, and so on. Shamed to say the actual history by patients leads to delay their presentation until the lower urinary tract symptoms occur in self-insertion cases. The imageological examinations are helpful for diagnosis and treatment, especially in some patients with no clinical findings. Minimally invasive endoscopic techniques are used for treatment of the majority cases, but open surgeries are also performed in special cases.2 Here we share our experience dealing with 159 magnetic balls as foreign body in bladder, which maybe the maximum number of foreign body according to previously literatures.

A 28-year-old unmarried male was admitted to the emergency room with lower abdominal pain and dysuria. He stated that he had placed some small magnetic balls into the urethra 5 h before. He had no history of any psychiatric illness and similar act.

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