Gossypiboma 19 years after laminectomy mimicking a malignant spinal tumour: a case report

INTRODUCTION Gossypiboma is rare and mostly asymptomatic in chronic cases. It can be confused with other soft tissue masses. CASE PRESENTATION Our patient was an 87-year-old Japanese man with a history of surgery for a lumbar lesion causing lumbar canal stenosis 19 years earlier. Computed tomography showed a soft tissue mass with osteolysis and periosteal thickening of the vertebral lamina. On magnetic resonance imaging, the mass showed heterogeneous signal intensity on T2-weighted imaging, suggesting a malignancy. At the time of biopsy, small pieces of retained surgical sponge were collected. Surgical treatment was performed to excise the soft tissue tumour. CONCLUSIONS Gossypiboma should be included in the differential diagnosis of soft tissue masses in the paraspinal region in patients with a history of previous spinal surgery.