TY - JOUR
AR - CRSS-2024-1-101
TI - Iatrogenic Abdominal Firm Lump: A Case Report of a Retained Surgical Item Detected 8 Years Post-Abdominoplasty
AU - Hamad, Alsanea
AU - Athary, Saleem
AU - Fahad, Alhamadi
AU - Mohammed, Asad
JO - Case Reports and Series in Surgery
PY - 2024
DA - Fri 01, Mar 2024
SN - 2733-2241
DO - http://dx.doi.org/10.31487/j.CRSS.2024.01.01
UR - https://www.sciencerepository.org/iatrogenic-abdominal-firm-lump_CRSS-2024-1-101 
KW - Retained surgical bodies, foreign bodies, seroma, abdominoplasty, retained drain, case report
AB - Introduction and Importance: Retained surgical body (RSB) is unusual life-threatening condition occurred postoperatively. Despite its rarity, multiple protective and management policies were documented by policymakers.
Case Presentation: A 62-year-old female patient presented with a few months’ history of abdominal mass. She presented to our hospital 8 years post-abdominoplasty that was performed in a private sector. The underlying cause of the abdominal mass was identified by abdominal and pelvic computed tomography (CT) with IV contrast as a surgically retained foreign tubular object. Then, the decision was made to proceed with an open surgical technique to remove the RSB, which was defined as a missed drain tube. The postoperative period was uneventful. 
Clinical Discussion: Post-operative RSB, as a retained drain fragment, is a surgical challenge that necessitates standardization of error reporting strategies, awareness enhancement, and improvement of professional communication between surgical teams in the operation room.
Conclusion: This case highlights the serious consequences of RSB and the radiologic tools in foreign materials identification. We report the case of a 62-year-old female patient with a long-standing history of abdominal mass, found to be caused by an unintentionally retained drain tube missed 8 years post-abdominoplasty.