Health professionals are constantly faced by the risks and consequences associated with medical errors. Given the increasing complexity of both the modern health care environment and the patient population, reduction of medical errors is becoming a high priority task for health policy makers and medical community alike. Retained surgical foreign bodies (RSFB) continue to be a significant problem, affecting between 0.3 to 1.0 per 1,000 abdominal operations. Retained surgical foreign bodies have the potential to cause harm to the patient and carry profound professional and medico-legal consequences to both surgical practitioners and hospitals. Currently, there are no known methods of completely eliminating the occurrence of RSFB. However, more evidence is accumulating with regards to risk factors associated with RSFB. In addition, modern technology (radio-frequency tagging of surgical sponges) and improved perioperative patient processing (multiple 'checks and balances' and better provider-to-provider communication) may help decrease the incidence of RSFB.

Citation: Stawicki SP, Seamon MJ, Martin ND, Cipolla J, Gracias VH, Lombardo G, Nance ML, Schrag SP, Pryor JP, Lukaszczyk JJ, Chovanes J, Fernandez FB, Steinberg SM, Gunter Jr OL. Retained surgical foreign bodies: A synopsis. OPUS 12 Scientist 2008;2(2):1-6.

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