Imaging of abdominal and pelvic surgical and postprocedural foreign bodies

Abstract

Every form of medical and surgical treatment, even the most trivial one, carries with it some chance of complications. This risk is usually small, and the benefit of the treatment should clearly outweigh the risk. Treatment-related complications may occur, however, presenting either soon after the intervention or remote from it. In this review, the focus is on imaging findings of surgical materials used in abdominal surgery, and of a wide array of implanted abdominal devices. The pertinent complications of these devices and of retained surgical objects are highlighted and illustrated.

Keywords: Computed tomography; Iatrogenic complication; Iatrogenic injury; Implanted devices; Postprocedural complications; Surgical foreign bodies.