[Serious complications related to use of corn starch powder on surgical gloves]

Cornflour has been used as a lubricant on surgical gloves since 1947. Serious complications have been reported after deposition of cornflour powder in the human body. The best known complication is granulomatous peritonitis, but cornflour granulomas have also been found in the heart, the kidneys and the central nervous system. Maltesercross, when seen in polarized light in the microscope, is pathognomonic. Malignancy and other granulomatous inflammations are actual differential diagnoses. Nowadays gloves free of lubricating powder are commercially available.