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.