Twenty Years with a Retained Foreign Body after Hysterectomy: A Case Report

INTRODUCTION: Unintentionally retained foreign bodies (RFBs) can be accompanied with acute reactions such as inflammatory responses, infections and abscesses within a few days or weeks after surgery with adverse consequences for patients and surgeons. CASE REPORT: An 84-year-old woman was admitted to hospital with weakness, lethargy and infectious secretions of the umbilicus. The patient had undergone hysterectomy 21 years before. Clinical examinations and accurate umbilicus explorations found a 0.5-mm fibrin and smelly umbilical secretions. Dragging found the fibrin to be a surgical gauze thread. The patient was therefore identified as a candidate for laparotomy, which revealed a long gauze attached to a band and a metal ring in the umbilicus and hypogastric regions as well as a large abscess containing 200 ml of infectious secretions, severe adhesions of the intestines to each other and to the abdominal wall, a 10×10 cm cavity and an approximately 1-cm fistula or laceration in the Ileum due to the foreign body (long gauze). The patient was discharged from the hospital in good health conditions after the final surgery. CONCLUSION: Given the possibility of leaving foreign bodies in the surgery site, surgical teams are required to precisely control surgical instruments after surgery.