Intrathoracic gossypiboma presenting 52 years later as a chest mass.

We describe the rare case of a 71-year-old man with a chest mass that was found to be an intrathoracic gossypiboma left 52 years earlier during an emergency lung bilobectomy. This mass was complicated by extension across the chest wall. There are no reports in the literature of a patient carrying a thoracic gossypiboma for such a long period of time, let alone with extension across the chest wall.