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3rd February 2023
11:51am GMT
The boy, who has not been named, had confessed to his mother after failing to dispose of the golf ball by going to the toilet, but was not said to be in any discomfort, according to Case Reports in Surgery.
She then rushed him to Royal Adelaide Hospital.
Doctors tried to remove the ball with various devices — a suction cup, medical net, looped snare, quad-prong grasper, retrieval pouch and balloon catheter but stopped with the “aggressive” interventions after more than two hours.
It was hoped the ball would “spontaneously enter the rectum", but an X-ray showed it was still there even 24 hours later.
The boy's family didn't want doctors to continue with evasive removal attempts, so one litre of laxatives was administered to the teen.
A "successful evacuation" occurred three hours later, with no evidence of any bowel damage.
Doctors then advised the boy “against inserting further objects into his rectum in the future.”
Doctors recommended future patients with foreign bodies inside them (where there is no obstruction of bowel function) should be given laxatives in the hopes the object will pass without surgical intervention.
“A golf ball presents unique technical challenges when attempting to remove from the colon due to its mechanical properties,” the report authors wrote.
“These include its large size, spherical shape, incompressibility, and the presence of dimples, which prevents a suction seal.”
Read the report - Successful expulsion of a golf ball from the Sigmoid Colon using volume laxatives - here.
