title: Gossypiboma 19 years after laminectomy mimicking a malignant spinal tumour: a case report.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Gossypiboma is rare and mostly asymptomatic in chronic cases. It can be confused with other soft tissue masses.
  
  
  METHODS
  Our patient was an 87-year-old Japanese man with a history of surgery for a lumbar lesion causing lumbar canal stenosis 19 years earlier. Computed tomography showed a soft tissue mass with osteolysis and periosteal thickening of the vertebral lamina. On magnetic resonance imaging, the mass showed heterogeneous signal intensity on T2-weighted imaging, suggesting a malignancy. At the time of biopsy, small pieces of retained surgical sponge were collected. Surgical treatment was performed to excise the soft tissue tumour.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Gossypiboma should be included in the differential diagnosis of soft tissue masses in the paraspinal region in patients with a history of previous spinal surgery.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Akita Kosei Medical Center, 1-1-1 Iijima-Nishifukuro, Akita 011-0948, Japan. takakoba825@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kobayashi
authors.forename: Naohisa
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Miyakoshi
authors.forename: Eiji
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Abe
authors.forename: Toshiki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Abe
authors.forename: Tetsuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Masato
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.forename: Yoichi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shimada
mesh_terms: D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005547:Foreign Bodies / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D007796:Laminectomy; D008161:Lumbosacral Region / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000601:surgery; D013120:Spinal Cord Neoplasms; D015503:Surgical Sponges; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods; D016896:Treatment Outcome