Retained foreign body in the axillary region.

Retained postoperative foreign bodies, of which sponges are the most common, are a rare situation. This may be due to the care of the surgical team or a reluctance to publish incidences that could lead to medicolegal problems. Despite this rarity in reporting, retained foreign bodies appear to be encountered more commonly than expected. All surgical tools used during an operation can become a retained foreign body. Surgical instruments, sponges and drains left in the operation site may be responsible for bizarre and varied complications. We describe a case of a Penrose drain retained in the axillary region discovered during the dissection of the lymph nodes due to epidermoid carcinoma.