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Case Reports
. 2018 Aug 11:12:21.
doi: 10.1186/s13037-018-0168-y. eCollection 2018.

Transmigration of a retained surgical sponge: a case report

Tushar Patial  1 , Namit Rathore  2 , Angesh Thakur  3 , Digvijay Thakur  2 , Kanika Sharma  4
Affiliations
Case Reports

Transmigration of a retained surgical sponge: a case report

Tushar Patial et al. Patient Saf Surg. .

Abstract

Background: A retained surgical sponge remains a dreaded complication of modern surgery. Despite the increasing focus on patient safety instances of "a sponge being left in the abdomen", are all too common in popular media. In this article we report the rare phenomenon of transmigration of a retained surgical sponge in a patient who underwent laparoscopic sterilization.

Case presentation: A 30-year-old female presented with progressive abdominal pain for about one month and vomiting with obstipation for 2 days. The patient had undergone laparoscopic sterilization 7 years back and then underwent re-canalization one year back. She underwent an exploratory laparotomy for suspected adhesive small bowel obstruction. During surgery, an intra-luminal surgical sponge was recovered from the distal small bowel. The patient recovered and was discharged in good health.

Conclusion: Despite numerous advances in terms of technology and the ever-growing emphasis on patient safety, the problem of a retained surgical sponge remains a dreaded potential complication. All clinicians and health care professionals should be aware of this entity and its various presentations.

Keywords: Case report; Gossypiboma; Retained surgical items; Retained surgical sponge; Textiloma.

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Conflict of interest statement

Not applicable. Written informed consent for publication obtained from the patient. The authors declare that they have no competing interests. Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Abdominal radiograph erect showing, multiple air-fluid levels
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Computed tomography of the abdomen, showing intraluminal gossypiboma (Black arrow)
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Intra operative photograph, after retrieval of gossypiboma
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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