title: Needle in a haystack: lost in transition.
abstract: A lost needle during minimally invasive surgery is a cause of undue anxiety to the entire surgical team and also causes prolongation of surgical time. There is no literature reporting follow-up of any patient with needle left behind as they are considered as a 'never event' during a surgical procedure. Preventing such events needs vigilance on part of the surgeon and assistant. Here, we report a case of lost needle during performance of a robot-assisted nephron sparing surgery. The robot needed to be de-docked and converted to laparoscopy. After a thorough search, the needle was found to be lodged at an unusual place. A brief review of available literature is also provided alongside.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India. aditya.p.sharma@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Aditya Prakash
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Sharma
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India.
authors.forename: Uttam Kumar
authors.initials: UK
authors.lastname: Mete
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India.
authors.forename: Durgaprasad
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bendapuddi
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India.
authors.forename: Girdhar Singh
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Bora
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India.
authors.forename: Ravimohan S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Mavuduru
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D020878:Device Removal; D005547:Foreign Bodies; D006801:Humans; D007674:Kidney Diseases / Q000601:surgery; D010535:Laparoscopy; D008297:Male; D009339:Needles; D009392:Nephrectomy / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000295:instrumentation; D009399:Nephrons / Q000601:surgery; D059351:Organ Sparing Treatments / Q000295:instrumentation
keywords: C-arm; Lost; Needle; Port valve; Robotic