Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Case Reports
. 2012 Aug 7;184(11):1275-8.
doi: 10.1503/cmaj.110900. Epub 2012 Jul 3.

The lost sponge: patient safety in the operating room

Amanda Grant-Orser  1 , Paul Davies, Sukhbir Sony Singh
Affiliations
Case Reports

The lost sponge: patient safety in the operating room

Amanda Grant-Orser et al. CMAJ. .
No abstract available

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1:
Figure 1:
Radiograph obtained after laparotomy for suspected small-bowel obstruction to help locate a retained surgical sponge. Because of the limited imaging area, localization of the sponge was not possible.
Figure 2:
Figure 2:
Follow-up investigation with computed tomography. Scan shows radiopaque sponge in the lesser sac below the greater curvature of the stomach (arrow).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Leape LL, Brennan TA, Laird N, et al. The nature of adverse events in hospitalized patients. Results of the Harvard Medical Practice Study II. N Engl J Med 1991;324:377–84 - PubMed
    1. Cima RR, Kollengode A, Garnatz J, et al. Incidence and characteristics of potential and actual retained foreign object events in surgical patients. J Am Coll Surg 2008;207:80–7 - PubMed
    1. Wan W, Le T, Riskin L, et al. Improving safety in the operating room: a systemic literature review of retained surgical sponges. Curr Opin Anaesthesiol 2009;22:207–14 - PubMed
    1. Gawande AA, Studdert DM, Orav EJ, et al. Risk factors for retained instruments and sponges after surgery. N Engl J Med 2003;348: 229–35 - PubMed
    1. Gibbs VC. Patient safety practices in the operating room; correct-site surgery and nothing left behind. Surg Clin North Am 2005; 85:1307–19 - PubMed

Publication types