Misdiagnosis of a primary vaginal stone leading to a suspicion of sexual assault in a heavily disabled woman

Kerschen, Anja [UCL] Aydin, Selda [UCL] Marbaix, Etienne [UCL] Gérin, Vincent Haufroid, Vincent [UCL] Daudon, Michel Vanhaebost, Jessica [UCL] et al.[show all]

BACKGROUND : • Vaginal foreign bodies can be found in patients of various age groups and the nature of the foreign body is often age related (toys in infants vs. tampons in 1,2 • In most of the cases, patients are symptomatic (abdominal pain, foul smelling vaginal discharge, vaginal bleeding) 3 • Aside from infectious risks, patients with chronic vaginal foreign bodies encounter other complications (rectovaginal or vesi co vaginal fistulas for example) 1,3 • Vaginal stones are rare findings and thus often mistaken for exogenous foreign bodies • Risk of misdiagnosis • Risk to suspect sexual assault which will lead to a series of unnecessary investigations • Vaginal stones can be divided into two types 4 • Primary or endogenous vaginal stones secondary to urine stasis in the vagina, leading to deposits of inorganic salts. There i s n o preexisting foreign body. • Secondary or exogenous vaginal stones due to inorganic salt deposits accumulating around the surface of a foreign body (such as surgical material)