Urethral Sounding: Experience from Two Tertiary Care Centres in Northern India

Abstract

Introduction: Foreign bodies have been removed from urethra and bladder of young females since time immemorial. Various explanations have been offered by the patients but the variety, multiplicity and large sizes indicate masturbation as the major cause. Aim: To study the characteristics and find out the actual motive of urethral sounding at two tertiary care centres in Uttar Pradesh, India. Materials and Methods: This was a retrospective study conducted between January 2021 to December 2021 analysing the records of all patients who presented to urology emergency of King George’s Medical University, Lucknow and Uttar Pradesh University of Medical Sciences, Saifai, Etawah between June 2006 and June 2020 with foreign bodies in the urethra or urinary bladder. Data regarding the age, marital status of patient, type of foreign body and its location in the lower urinary tract, presence of any psychiatric illness, method of removal of the foreign body and possible cause of insertion of the foreign body from the records were collected. Data was segregated, coded and recorded in the Microsoft® Excel spreadsheet. Descriptive data were presented as percentages and analysed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 24.0 by IBM USA. Results: A total of 21 patients presented to the urology emergency with foreign body in the lower urinary tract between June 2006 and June 2020. None of the patients had any known psychiatric illness and all of them were adult males with age ranging from 18 to 45 years. Eight patients were managed by removal of foreign body with the help of artery forceps while 12 patients underwent cystoscopic removal of foreign body. One patient who had knotted electric wire in urinary bladder required laser fragmentation. Thirteen of the patients confessed to urethral masturbation while the rest offered vague explanations like accidental insertion or simply inquisitiveness. Conclusion: The results of this retrospective study indicate that urethral masturbation using foreign body exists in the healthy adult males. It generally does not come into notice until the patient ends up with impaction of the foreign body. More studies need to be done to see whether this could be a possible cause of urethral stricture in patients with inadequate history.