[Iatrogenic corpora aliena]

For 9 years (1975-1983) in republic Karelia 95,515 operations were performed. For this period there were 8 cases when foreign bodies were left in the abdominal and thoracic cavities and in soft tissues of the anterior abdominal wall: Bujalski spatula, a hemostatic forcepts, five gauze drapes, two rubber drainage tubes and two gauze globules. The time of staying of the foreign bodies in the cavities or tissues varied from 1-14 days to 33 years. Out of all the operated patients who had those foreign bodies one patients died due to a wound of the heart (during thoracotomy a gauze drape was left in the pleural cavity).