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NEJM
| Volume 348:228 |
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January 16, 2003 |
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Number 3 |
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Retained
Surgical Instrument
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A 59-year-old man with a history of
diverticulosis came to the clinic with abdominal pain in the
right upper quadrant of two weeks' duration. His surgical
history included a subtotal colectomy for pancolitis and
subsequent laparoscopic removal of an intraabdominal surgical
clamp (in 2000). His most recent surgery, performed in October
2001, was a ventral hernia repair. Postoperatively, he had
intermittent loose stools but felt well and gained weight. In
June 2002, the patient presented to our center with abdominal
pain, anorexia, and nausea, which had developed two weeks
earlier. Abdominal computed tomographic scans showed a 16-cm
Mayo clamp (Panels A and B), which was removed without incident.
After the procedure, the abdominal pain resolved.
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Anne Dembitzer, M.D.
Edwin J. Lai, M.D.
Veterans Affairs Palo Alto
Health Care System
Palo Alto, CA 94304
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