Novel Approach to Rectal Foreign Body Extraction

INTRODUCTION: The impacted rectal foreign body often poses a management challenge. Ideally, such objects are removed in the emergency department utilizing a combination of local anesthesia, sedation, minimal instrumentation, and manual extraction. In some instances, simple manual extraction is unsuccessful and general anesthesia may be necessary. We describe a novel approach to retrieval and removal of a rectal foreign body utilizing a SILS port. CASE DESCRIPTION: A 31-y-old male presented to the emergency department approximately 12 h after transanal insertion of a plastic cigar case. Abdominal examination revealed no evidence of peritonitis. On rectal examination, the tip of the cigar case was palpable. The foreign body, however, was unable to be removed manually in the emergency department. In the operating room, with the patient under general anesthesia, multiple attempts to remove the object were unsuccessful. A SILS port was inserted transanally. The rectum was then insufflated manually by attaching the diaphragm of the rigid sigmoidoscope to the SILS insufflation port. A 5-mm 0-degree laparoscope was placed through the SILS port. An atraumatic laparoscopic grasper was then placed through the port and used to grasp the visible end of the cigar case. The rectal foreign body was removed expeditiously. Direct visualization of the rectum revealed no evidence of mucosal injury. The patient was discharged home shortly after the procedure. DISCUSSION: The SILS port allows minimally invasive extraction of rectal foreign bodies not amenable to simple manual extraction. It provides excellent visualization and eliminates the morbidity inherent in more invasive and traditional methods of retrieval.