Pericardial Gossypiboma

Gossypiboma is a complication resulting from improper placement or loss of textile material during surgery. The term refers to a surgical sponge and the surrounding foreign body reaction (1). It is a rare complication of surgery. In most countries, sponges used in surgery have radiopaque markers that can easily be recognized on radiographs (2). Although certain characteristic plain-film and CT features of gossypibomas have been described, the appearance of retained sponges may be variable on various imaging modalities and the diagnosis can be especially difficult if a radiopaque marker is not present (3). It may lead to an aseptic fibrous response resulting in adhesion, encapsulation and granuloma formation or an exudative reaction causes abscess and fistula formation (4). The most common location for gossypiboma at cardiothoracic surgery is retrocardiac zone of pericardial area. Gossypibomas should be considered as a differential diagnosis of pericardial mass lesions.