A brush with danger: operative management of a through and through urethral and rectal injury following paintbrush insertion into the urethra.

Abstract

Iatrogenic injury from urethral foreign body insertion is rare but a recognised urological emergency. We present a case of a 61-year-old man who presented to the emergency department having inserted a 15cm-long paintbrush into his urethra, resulting in two 'exit' wounds in his urethra with an associated rectal injury. The patient was taken to theatre and a primary perineal repair of the two 'exit' defects in his urethra was performed over a urethral catheter and covering suprapubic catheter. His rectal injury was also repaired with a covering laparoscopic defunctioning colostomy performed. The patient recovered fully, without any residual urinary symptoms. To our knowledge, there are no reported cases of concomitant urethral and rectal injury following urethral foreign body insertion.