title: MRI "row of dots sign" in gossypiboma: an enlarging mass 8 months after sarcoma resection.
abstract: The retention of foreign bodies after surgery is rare, but carries significant morbidity and mortality as well as financial and legal implications. Such retained items cause a foreign-body reaction, which in the case of cotton-based materials are called gossypibomas. We present the case of an 84-year-old woman with a pseudotumor secondary to a retained dressing gauze roll, presenting 5 months after resection of a gluteal sarcoma, which had raised concerns of local recurrence. We also outline the imaging modalities that may assist in diagnosis of a retained foreign body, and suggest the MRI "row of dots" sign as a useful radiological feature associated with gossypiboma. Awareness of the imaging appearances of retained foreign bodies allows the inclusion of this possibility in differential diagnosis of a mass in patients with a surgical history.
authors.affiliation: University of Notre Dame, Sydney, 160 Oxford St, Darlinghurst 2010, Australia. timothy.shiraev1@my.nd.edu.au
authors.forename: Timothy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shiraev
authors.forename: S Fiona
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Bonar
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Stalley
authors.forename: Suzanne E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Anderson
mesh_terms: D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001458:Bandages / Q000009:adverse effects*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D005547:Foreign Bodies / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D012509:Sarcoma / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D012983:Soft Tissue Neoplasms / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery