A surgical gauze appearing as a retrocardiac mass in a patient after coronary artery bypass surgery.

Five years after open chest surgery because of three vessel coronary artery disease a patient was referred for progressing dyspnea and recent onset of atrial fibrillation. A retrocardiac mass was detected on chest X-ray and echocardiography. On CT-scan, the inhomogenous tumor made the diagnosis of a retained surgical gauze likely. Through a left incision the sponge was removed uneventfully and the dyspnea resolved.