Background: Retained rectal foreign bodies have been encountered more frequently and present a dilemma for management. Most of the reports on these cases were documented in the form of case report and from Western countries. The present study was a review on the authors' experiences in such cases.
Methods: Data from January 1979 to January 2000 were extracted from a computerized database of Taipei Veterans General Hospital. The clinical features, treatment strategies and outcomes were analyzed.
Results: Ten male patients (mean age: 57.0 years) with 12 presentations of retained rectal foreign bodies were collected. Glass bottles and vibrators were the most common objects encountered, while anal eroticism was reported as the reason for insertion in 50% of the cases. The majority of the objects were extracted by non-surgical methods through either anoscope (n = 4), rigid sigmoidoscope (n = 2) or colonoscope (n = 1). Obstetric forceps was utilized to remove an incarcerated bowling bottle. Emergent laparotomies were performed in cases with overt peritonitis (n = 2), pelvic sepsis (n = 1) and an impacted high-lying glass bottle. Minor complications, such as mucosal abrasion or superficial tear, were found in 62.5% of the non-surgically treated cases. Delayed bleeding was found in 2 of them. There was no mortality in our series.
Conclusions: Despite its rarity, the retained rectal foreign body had varying clinical features. Most of the uncomplicated rectal foreign bodies could be simply extracted transanally under adequate anesthesia. Fiberoptic colonoscopic extraction provided an alternative choice. Open surgery should be reserved only for those patients with overt peritonitis or pelvic sepsis.