Ron Schenone

Tumor Operation Finds Towel Inside Of Patient

Posted by on Jun 6, 2008 | One Comment

The old saying that fact is stranger than fiction holds true for this patient. Seems that the man had been diagnosed as having a tumor inside of him. But it seems that the tumor was a towel that had been left inside the man some 25 years before. In the story it states:

Surgeons in Japan thought they were removing a tumor from a 49-year-old man who was suffering from abdominal pain in late May.

Instead, they found a 25-year-old surgical towel that had crumpled into what looked like a softball-shaped tumor, Agence France-Presse reported.

The patient apparently had been carrying the cloth since 1983, when surgeons left it in him after minor ulcer surgery.

He went to Asahi General Hospital in late May after suffering pain. Doctors, at the time, found what they believed to be an 8-centimeter tumor.

One could only hope that 25 years from now they don’t find a pair of forceps inside of him from the new surgery. :-)

Comments welcome.

Source.

  • teddgcm

    You would be suprised at what gets left in patients, even today. Forcepts, clamps, even large spreaders have been found left in patients. Mostly though, it is things like gauze or surgical towels. They get soaked with blood and become almost invisible. Today, some hospitals have begun marking the gauze and other items with barcodes that can be scanned. As they are used, they are scanned by a computer. As they come out, they are scanned again. If the number that went in doesn’t match the number that came out, the doctor knows there is still something left inside the patient before he closes.