UNUSUAL FOREIGN BODY (STEINMANN PIN) IN BLADDER

Any solid material small enough to pass through the external urethral meatus may set up permanent residence in the urinary bladder. Most foreign bodies lost in the bladder have been self-introduced. Krugman and Rieser¹ reported a case of a thermometer lost in the urinary bladder by a patient who was taking vaginal temperatures to determine the time of ovulation. I recall an elderly patient who attempted dilatation of his urethral strictures with use of a wire coat hanger to the end of which was insecurely affixed a 3-in. length of wooden crayon. The wooden crayon, encased in stone, was surgically removed several months later.

Despite the degree of frequency with which orthopedic "hardware" is used in and about the hip, the orthopedic surgeon has rarely encroached by inadvertence on the urologic field. In 1936, Grant² reported a case of a beef-bone peg migrating into the urinary bladder of