Gossypiboma: Twelve Years There-After.

Gossypiboma is used to describe a retained cotton matrix surgical material in the body after an operation. Retained intra-abdominal surgical sponge is an uncommon surgical error. Among retained foreign bodies, a surgical gauze or sponge constitutes the most frequently encountered object because of its common usage, small size and amorphous structure. We report a case of a 32-year-old female patient who presented a left sided abdominal mass 12 years after an exploratory laparotomy. The policy of prevention coupled with use of several adjunct technologies which accounts for sponge use will help to reduce the incidence of gossypibomas.