[Voiding symptoms as presentation of an intravesical foreign body]

The presence of intravesical foreign bodies is exceptional; it is not a common emergency. Most foreign bodies have a sexual-erotic origin, although we cannot forget others such as elements left by the surgeon in the surgical field. We performed a bibliographic review on the topic.

We performed a PubMed (MEDLINE) electronic bibliographic search with the mesh terms "foreign-body migration" [MESH] AND "Urinary Bladder" [MESH] and bibliographic citations. We performed a bibliographic review establishing a classification depending on the origin and diagnosis, as well as treatment. Most publications are case reports. We described the most frequent presentation which was the same than we have in our Center.

We found a total of 122 works, nine of which were reviews; we selected 20 works. Although most are case reports, the reviews establish a classification depending on the origin: so, they refer to those foreign bodies directly introduced into the bladder: 1. By the patient: hairpins, safety pins, pencils, copper wires, hairs; 2. Accidentally: bullets; 3. Iatrogenic: fragments of bladder or ureteral catheters, staples, sutures. Foreign bodies migrated from other places: urological, gynecological, gastrointestinal, or vascular origin. We established a diagnostic and therapeutic algorithm.

Bladder foreign bodies are not as frequent as it is believed. Most are found incidentally. Lower urinary tract symptoms are the most frequent, as the antecedent of manipulation by the patient or others in the genital-urologic sphere. The treatment of choice is extraction using the least invasive and most simple method for the patient.