Retained Surgical Sponge Presenting Four Decades Later as a Rapidly Growing Soft Tissue Mass

Retained surgical items continue to occur despite widespread implementation of prevention systems such as the surgical count, which has limited utility owing to its reliance on human performance. The most important risk factors for these events are poor communication in the operating room and incons...

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Main Author: Adriana Y. Koek
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2020-01-01
Series:Case Reports in Surgery
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2020/1230173
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author Adriana Y. Koek
author_facet Adriana Y. Koek
author_sort Adriana Y. Koek
collection DOAJ
description Retained surgical items continue to occur despite widespread implementation of prevention systems such as the surgical count, which has limited utility owing to its reliance on human performance. The most important risk factors for these events are poor communication in the operating room and inconsistent adherence to protocol. New technologies show efficacy in preventing retained surgical items and partially mitigating the poor reliability of the manual count. Additionally, efforts to address systemic and environmental sources of error have demonstrated success in reducing the incidence of retained surgical items. Here, we present the surprising case of a patient with a retained surgical sponge presenting as a soft tissue mass four decades after his surgery.
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spelling doaj-art-a5b0d23acde34920b02ff9ff94226eb42025-02-03T06:46:06ZengWileyCase Reports in Surgery2090-69002090-69192020-01-01202010.1155/2020/12301731230173Retained Surgical Sponge Presenting Four Decades Later as a Rapidly Growing Soft Tissue MassAdriana Y. Koek0Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL 33431, USARetained surgical items continue to occur despite widespread implementation of prevention systems such as the surgical count, which has limited utility owing to its reliance on human performance. The most important risk factors for these events are poor communication in the operating room and inconsistent adherence to protocol. New technologies show efficacy in preventing retained surgical items and partially mitigating the poor reliability of the manual count. Additionally, efforts to address systemic and environmental sources of error have demonstrated success in reducing the incidence of retained surgical items. Here, we present the surprising case of a patient with a retained surgical sponge presenting as a soft tissue mass four decades after his surgery.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2020/1230173
spellingShingle Adriana Y. Koek
Retained Surgical Sponge Presenting Four Decades Later as a Rapidly Growing Soft Tissue Mass
Case Reports in Surgery
title Retained Surgical Sponge Presenting Four Decades Later as a Rapidly Growing Soft Tissue Mass
title_full Retained Surgical Sponge Presenting Four Decades Later as a Rapidly Growing Soft Tissue Mass
title_fullStr Retained Surgical Sponge Presenting Four Decades Later as a Rapidly Growing Soft Tissue Mass
title_full_unstemmed Retained Surgical Sponge Presenting Four Decades Later as a Rapidly Growing Soft Tissue Mass
title_short Retained Surgical Sponge Presenting Four Decades Later as a Rapidly Growing Soft Tissue Mass
title_sort retained surgical sponge presenting four decades later as a rapidly growing soft tissue mass
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2020/1230173
work_keys_str_mv AT adrianaykoek retainedsurgicalspongepresentingfourdecadeslaterasarapidlygrowingsofttissuemass