title: Gossypibomas, a surgeon's nightmare-patient demographics, risk factors, imaging and how we can prevent it.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Gossypibomas are a cottonoid matrix left behind following surgery. Owing to the legal issues associated with it, very few literature studies are available online, most of them being case reports. The purpose of our study was to identify the patient demographics, risk factors and imaging features.
  
  
  METHODS
  Six surgically identified and histopathologically confirmed cases of gossypibomas recorded over a period of 5 years from a single tertiary institution were retrospectively evaluated for patient demographics [sex, age, body mass index (BMI)], type of surgery and duration from time of surgery to onset of symptoms. Ultrasound and CT images obtained from our hospital database were evaluated for their characteristic pattern. Statistics used included percentage and frequency.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Females formed the bulk of our patients and the mean BMI of our patients was 24.25. The interval between surgery and symptom presentation ranged from 2 months to 7 years. The most common imaging patterns observed on ultrasound and CT were a thick-walled hypoechoic lesion with a strong posterior acoustic shadowing and a "spongiform pattern", respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A detailed patient history, taking into account radiologist-surgeon interaction, along with familiarization of the various risk factors and imaging patterns can bring about an accurate diagnosis of a gossypiboma. Advances in knowledge: Our study showed that the female sex, especially those undergoing gynaecology-related surgery such as hysterectomy and patients with a high BMI were at risk of gossypibomas. The combination of a hypoechoic lesion with strong posterior shadowing on ultrasound along with a spongiform pattern on CT was highly characteristic for gossypiboma on imaging.
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Radiology, KG Hospital and Post Graduate Medical Institute, Coimbatore, India.
authors.forename: Rishi P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Mathew
authors.affiliation: 2 Department of Radiology, Kerala Institute of Medical Sciences, Kottayam, Kerala, India.
authors.forename: Binston
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.affiliation: 3 Department of Radio-diagnosis, Father Muller Medical College, Mangalore, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: Ram S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Basti
authors.affiliation: 3 Department of Radio-diagnosis, Father Muller Medical College, Mangalore, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: Hadihally B
authors.initials: HB
authors.lastname: Suresh
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D005547:Foreign Bodies / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000517:prevention & control; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D066231:Surgeons; D015503:Surgical Sponges; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D014463:Ultrasonography