A misplaced surgical towel - a rare cause of fever of unknown origin.

Retained surgical towels, usually called gossypiboma, are rare, but can cause important morbidity and mortality. Usually they are discovered during the first few days after surgery, but may remain undetected for many years. Bowel obstruction, perforation, pseudotumor or peritonitis are most often the clinical presentation, but in some cases only constitutional symptoms prevail. Diagnosis can be difficult, mostly because of low clinical suspicion. We report a case of a woman who presented with fever and weight loss three and half years after an abdominal surgery. After an extensive workup, a gossypiboma was finally discovered and removed, leading to a complete cure.