Iatrogenic Abdominal Pain: A Case Report of a Retained Surgical Item Detected 20 Years After Surgery

A retained surgical item (RSI) refers to a surgical object (surgical sponges, needles, instruments, device fragments, irrigation sets, guidewires, clips, and rubber materials) accidentally left inside the patient at the end of a surgery or any other procedure. It is considered a never event that can have severe consequences for the patient, and that may lead to death. The use of checklists and the implementation of clinical and procedure protocols have attempted to reduce their incidence, but they continue to occur. Most RSI are discovered within three months, with a rare number of cases being diagnosed 3.5 years after the original procedure. In this report, we discuss the case of a 65-year-old woman who presented with weight loss and B symptoms for a month, a condition resulting from a 20-year RSI, a unique case given the time period between the previous surgery and its diagnosis.