SummaryWe present two cases of intestinal obstruction from retained laparotomy packs and their management. Attention to detail in theatre procedure should reduce such occurrence.

Introduction. Retained surgical foreign bodies (RSFB) constitute a theoretically preventable surgical morbidity. Despite numerous case reports and clinical series, very few studies exist that adequately address the issue of RSFB. Moreover, published reports lack the ability to detect clinically important differences among the proposed risk factors for RSFB. This meta-analysis examines existing ...

A 59-year old man was admitted to the emergency department with chest pain. He denied experiencing fever, breathlessness or cough. He had undergone coronary artery bypass surgery 4 years previously. Computed tomography showed a heterogeneous mass with wavy, striped areas (Fig. 1). Thoracotomy showed a foreign body. It proved to be a surgical sponge. Figure 1: Axial (A) and coronal (B) chest com...

Retained surgical textile foreign bodies are a problem despite precautions taken by surgeons. Computed tomography (CT) is a method of choice in diagnosing the cases of retained textilomas. Over 12 years, we diagnosed 11 acute textilomas in 10 patients in the early postoperative period within 3 months after abdominal surgery. The presence of considerable amount of air bubbles within textile fibe...

Retained abdominal swabs remain a difficult problem. This review highlights the risk factors and index pathology, as well as markers that raise clinical suspicion, of a condition that may be elusive in presentation on account of its otherwise nonspecific signs and symptoms. A review of the English literature reporting retained abdominal swabs between 1992 and 2012 revealed 100 cases. Fifty-six ...

UNLABELLED The present report describes the application of a miniplate in the hard palate of a 36-year-old patient with a large anterior maxillary defect. The combination of orthodontic elastics with a titanium miniplate improved the stability of the prefabricated prosthesis. This structure retained the ointment gauze covering the wounds and maintained the facial contour. In addition, contractu...

Retention of a surgical item is a preventable event that can result in patient injury. AORN's "Recommended practices for prevention of retained surgical items" emphasizes the importance of using a multidisciplinary approach for prevention. Procedures should include counts of soft goods, needles, miscellaneous items, and instruments, and efforts should be made to prevent retention of fragments o...