OBJECTIVE: To review the literature on textiloma or surgical sponges left during renal surgery because of the important medical-legal implications of this complication. METHOD: Three cases of textiloma in patients undergoing renal surgery are presented. Two of them had undergone surgery at other hospitals 26 and 4 years earlier. The third patient had undergone transplantation at our hospital and was reoperated 4 months later for a purulent cutaneous fistula caused by the textiloma. RESULTS/ CONCLUSIONS: A review of the literature since 1950 showed few reports of textiloma. The risk factors according to the type of surgery performed and current controls in the operating room to avoid this complication that can occasionally be severe, are presented in detail. The forms of presentation, diagnostic methods and difficulties encountered due to the long period of time the foreign body has been left indwelling, are analyzed. To our knowledge, 8 cases of textilomas have been reported in patients undergoing renal surgery.
OBJECTIVE: To review the literature on textiloma or surgical sponges left during renal surgery because of the important medical-legal implications of this complication. METHOD: Three cases of textiloma in patients undergoing renal surgery are presented. Two of them had undergone surgery at other hospitals 26 and 4 years earlier. The third patient had undergone transplantation at our hospital and was reoperated 4 months later for a purulent cutaneous fistula caused by the textiloma. RESULTS/ CONCLUSIONS: A review of the literature since 1950 showed few reports of textiloma. The risk factors according to the type of surgery performed and current controls in the operating room to avoid this complication that can occasionally be severe, are presented in detail. The forms of presentation, diagnostic methods and difficulties encountered due to the long period of time the foreign body has been left indwelling, are analyzed. To our knowledge, 8 cases of textilomas have been reported in patients undergoing renal surgery.