Surgical removal of an unrecognized tapestry needle from the urethra

Abstract

The variety of intraurethral foreign bodies has been reported in literature. Most of them tend to be self-inserted because of sexual or erotic reasons. We report a 23-year old male patient who had tapestry needle into his urethra, which was not self-inserted. The patient was referred to our institution with dysuria and hematuria. There was microscopic hematuria in urine analysis and no pathologic sign in sonography. The needle was detected in proximal urethra in pelvic X-ray and endoscopic visualization revealed that it was trapped in mucosa. The needle was successfully removed by open surgery. Main treatment for the removal of urethral foreign bodies is usually endoscopic but open surgery may be required in some cases especially cutting foreign bodies.

Keywords

• Urethra
• foreign body
• tapestry needle.