Mumbai doctors find 2 surgical sponges in abdomen after five years

MUMBAI: In an unusual case, city doctors found two surgical sponges inside the abdomen of a woman, allegedly left behind five years ago after a Caesarean section in a UP hospital. GT Hospital surgeons said it was rare for a patient to live with a foreign body for so long, without exhibiting pain or other symptoms.

Shabnam Ali (38) from Balrampur district of UP came to Mumbai early in January for a gall bladder removal surgery. The mother said she experienced occasional abdominal pain and bloating after birth of her son at UP’s Prem Seva Hospital in June 2015. Subsequent ultrasound scans, she said, only showed stones in her gall bladder.

In a two-hour laparoscopic surgery on January 16, GT doctors removed the two 10x10cm gauge pads, which encased in tissues and pus, sat close to the stomach and colon. Suspecting it to be a cystic tumour, doctors removed the mass and carried on with the rest of the gall bladder removal surgery as well as repairing her umbilical hernia. When doctors dissected the mass they were shocked to discover the gauze pieces.

“The abdomen is often called the Pandora’s box by surgeons as one never knows what will come out of it when one opens it. We were surprised to find the gauze pieces lying for five years,” said Dr Jeetendra Sankpal, who headed the team of surgeons. “The body’s immune system encapsulated the gauze pads. We spotted a swelling when we inserted the camera-mounted scope and checked the entire abdomen,” he said, adding that surprisingly, she did not suffer from other serious complications, such as rupturing of intestine.

Shabnam, whose son is five now, said she miscarried last June in the fourth month of gestation. Since then her frequency of abdominal pain had increased, hastening her Mumbai visit. Dr Sankpal said it was possible to link the foreign object and resultant toxicity to the miscarriage. Shabnam, whose husband is a farmer, said she was glad the nagging pain would stop, but did not say if she would initiate action against the UP hospital. Senior resident Dr Jai Rathore said there were four reported cases, where foreign bodies were found and removed using laparoscopy.

Gossypiboma cases are under-reported as it accounts for over 50% of negligence cases.