Phone charger cord extracted from man’s urinary bladder

Patient claimed he had accidentally ingested a headphone, says surgeon

A doctor in Guwahati extracted a mobile phone charger cord from the urinary bladder of a 30-year-old man, but not before he had “misled” them into operating on his stomach.

Walliul Islam, a consultant surgeon, posted on his Facebook page on Thursday about the patient who “challenged my intellectual and surgical skills” by “lying” about having accidentally ingested a headphone.

“He came to me complaining about severe abdominal pain. X-ray revealed there was something in his lower abdomen and an endoscopy confirmed a cord. But I found nothing in his gastrointestinal tract after surgery a few days ago,” Dr. Islam told

The Hindu on Friday.

The man’s intestines were checked, but nothing was found. Another X-ray conducted in the operation theatre showed the mobile phone charger cord in his urinary bladder.

“The cord was removed successfully and the patient is recovering. But the surgery could have been avoided had he told the truth. The cord could have been extracted via the penile urethra through which he had inserted [it],” he said.

The surgery was done at a private hospital since all government hospitals have been turned into COVID-19 centres, with room only for cancer and gynaecological cases besides emergency services.

“In his case, the cord got lodged in the urinary bladder connected to the urethra. I have never come across a case like this in my 25-year career,” Dr. Islam said.