[Vaginal foreign body -- cause for a rectovaginal fistula].

A case of 56-year-old patient is presented with the diagnosis "carcinoma of the cervix". She suffered from brown, bad smelling vaginal discharge since half a year without any pain. Three weeks before she had noticed a postmenopausal bleeding. At the examination under anaesthesia with cysto- and rectoscopy we saw a rectovaginal fistula. In the vagina a white plastic object was found which could not be removed. Some days later a hysterectomy with extraction of the foreign body (aerosol cap) was done and the fistula was treated together with the surgeons. There was no evidence of a carcinoma. The patient suffers from multiple sclerosis since 20 years. On asking she told us that the foreign body was in place since about two years. She was not willing to relate any other information.