Foley calculus formation

Calcification around foreign objects in the urinary bladder has been well documented and is generally regarded as an invariable consequence. Calculi have been produced experimentally in rats by introducing various foreign bodies into the bladder (Vermeulen, Grove, Goetz, Ragins, and Correll, 1950). In humans, large calculi have been found to form around retained fragments of a ruptured Foley balloon (Chute, 1962). The rarity of total encrustation of an indwelling Foley catheter in only three months and its characteristic rontgenographic appearance prompt us to report this unusual case. N.E., a 60-year-old Negro male, was admitted to the Boston City Hospital on February 27, 1969 with urinary retention of eight hours' duration. During the preceding three months he had noted a weakening urinary stream with occasional incontinence. Physical examination revealed the urinary bladder to be distended four finger-breadths above the symphysis pubis, and rectal examination disclosed a 40 g prostate which felt benign. A Foley catheter was inserted and 600 c.c. of urine drained from the bladder.