A Foreign Body in the Rectum for Fifteen Years?

Gopal, male, aged 30 years, came in with retention ot urine which he had had for 30 hours. His urine was drawn off with a rubber catheter which went in easily, and he was admitted into the ward of the Prince of Wales Hospital. Next morning when notes of the case were recorded he mentioned that there was some obstruction in his rectum and that it was like a ball moving up and down. When further questioned he said that he had swallowed a mango-seed last May and it has not yet come out. His rectum was examined and a foreign body like a golf ball was felt inside. His bladder also was sounded but no stone was felt. A skiagram was taken; an opacity simulating a big stone in the bladder was detected (figure 1). If this point (swallowing a foreign body) had not been mentioned to the radiologist, he would have diagnosed it as a stone in the bladder.