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 sponges and instruments (RSI) due to surgery are a recognised medical 'never event' and have catastrophic implications for patients, healthcare professionals and medical care providers. The aim of this review was to elucidate the extent of the problem of RSI and to identify preventative strategies. METHODS A comprehensive literature search was performed on MEDLINE(®), Em...

BACKGROUND Gossypiboma is the term for a surgical complication resulting from foreign materials such as a surgical sponge or gauze that was accidentally left inside a patient's body. CASE REPORT Here, we report the case of a 62-year-old woman with gossypiboma. She underwent surgery due to an abdominal mass that was preoperatively considered a tumor. Intra-postoperatively, it was diagnosed as ...

Gossypiboma or a retained surgical sponge is a rare but avoidable surgical complication. It leads to considerable morbidity and at times even mortality. We report a case of a 24-year-old lady who presented one month after a Caesarean operation with complaints of fever, pain in abdomen, and vomiting. After the clinical examination a possibility of a retained surgical sponge was entertained. Howe...

One of the most common methods of skin defect repairing is the use of a skin graft. It is simple and reliable technique, although sometimes it is not totally successful due to hematoma and seroma formation between the skin graft and the recipient bed. Here in, we present a method to secure the skin grafts using a surgical sponge with two running sutures. This technique ensures high survival rat...

Advances in health information technology provide significant opportunities for improvements in surgical patient safety. The adoption and use of electronic health records can enhance communication along the surgical spectrum of care. Bar coding and radiofrequency identification technology are strategies to prevent retained surgical sponges and for tracking the operating room supply chain. Compu...

Foreign bodies, such as surgical sponges or drains, are sometimes retained after surgical procedures.1 Retention of a drain in the breast tissue postoperatively is an unusual complication. This report describes two cases of characteristic sonographic findings related to retained silastic drains following breast surgery.

The problem of retained surgical bodies (RSB) after surgery is an issue for surgeons, hospitals and the entire medical team. They have potentially harmful consequences for the patient as they can be life threatening and usually, a further operation is necessary. The incidence of RSB is between 0.3 to 1.0 per 1,000 abdominal operations, and they occur due to a lack of organisation and communicat...

Imaging within 24 to 48 hours after most neurosurgical procedures is a routine practice. Nonresorbable surgical sponges have radiopaque filaments readily visible on CT scans and plain film radiographs. However, the proton-poor barium sulfate responsible for this radio-opacity is generally not detectable on MR imaging in the immediate post-operative period. Findings on MR imaging become more evi...

BACKGROUND The term gossypiboma refers to a sponge that has been forgotten in the surgical field. It is the most common retained surgical item, and constitutes a continuing problem for surgical safety. We performed a hospital-based study to examine their incidence, root cause, and outcomes, as an effort toward improving prevention. METHODS This retrospective study covered 10 years (2006-2015)...