Archivos españoles de urología
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Review Case Reports
[Gunshot wound with a bullet lodged in the prostate].
We describe a most unusual urological emergency: a firearm wound in which the blunt-nosed hand-gun bullet was lodged in the prostate. A bibliographic search of the literature revealed no similar case. ⋯ The velocity of a rifle or hand-gun bullet is the main determinant of the severity of this type of injury. As there was no exit wound, we knew that the entrance velocity was low, therefore tissue damage would probably be small. In these cases, a preparatory suprapubic cystostomy is essential to be able to carry out a urethral reconstruction later. Radiological control during the procedure proved extremely useful to precisely locate the bullet. Our conservative approach of simply leaving in place the catheter helped us later to avoid a difficult repair of a recto-urethral fistula.