ABSTRACT

The term "gossypiboma" denotes a mass of cotton that is retained in the body following surgery. Foreign bodies like a retained gauze and surgical instruments are rarely reported due to medical and legal reasons. Case presentation: A 64 years old man admitted to our clinic with the complaint of spontaneous extrusion of a foreign body during defecation. The patient had a history of a total cystectomy operation due to urinary bladder cancer four years ago. After two years, CT scan was performed revealing a well shaped 6x6 cm. solid mass with a homogenized internal structure in the presacral area considered as tumoral relaps and the patient underwent chemo-radiotherapy without a proven diagnosis.Conclusions: Despite the improvements in the development of surgical techniques, the inevitable probability of the presence of foreign bodies after surgery still remains to be a serious problem. Non-spesific clinical symptoms and inconclusive imaging findins may preclude an accurate diagnosis. Counting of the surgical material before and after the surgery is the most effective way of avoiding this complication.