title: A retained foreign body mimicking colon cancer.
abstract: Retained foreign bodies can be a challenging diagnosis due to the wide array of presentations and greatly varied range of time to detection. Here we report a case of a retained surgical sponge detected 5 years postoperatively after an extensive workup for colon cancer. This case demonstrates the novel finding of a retained surgical sponge appearing as colon cancer and serves as a reminder that symptoms that cannot be explained by a standard workup, in any patient who has undergone previous surgery, must have retained surgical instruments as a differential diagnosis.
authors.affiliation: Division of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Department of Surgery, Wexner Medical Center, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
authors.forename: Joseph M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Meyerson
authors.forename: Sabrena
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Noria
authors.forename: W Scott
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Melvin
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003110:Colonic Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000601:surgery; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D005547:Foreign Bodies / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D007412:Intestinal Fistula / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000601:surgery; D007421:Intestine, Small; D012810:Sigmoid Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000601:surgery; D015503:Surgical Sponges