Rectal foreign bodies: imaging assessment and medicolegal aspects

Abstract

The amount of patients presenting at the emergency hospitals with retained rectal foreign bodies appears recently to have increased. Foreign objects retained in the rectum may result from direct introduction through the anus (more common) or from ingestion. Affected individuals often make ineffective attempts to extract the object themselves, resulting in additional delay of medical care and potentially increasing the risk of complications. The goals of radiological patient assessment are to identify the type of object retained, its location, and the presence of associated complications. Plain film radiographs still play an important role in the assessment of retained rectal foreign bodies.