Iatrogenic retained foreign body in the right atrium. Lessons to Learn

We report a case of a retained foreign body in the right atrium and the review of the literature discussing several cases where the poor attention and management of medical staff has led to worsening consequences to patient's health.

In our case the mass demonstrated on MRI scan turned out to be an inflammatory process and organized clotted blood built around a broken piece of a plastic cannula protruding out of the right atrium. This caused debilitating pleuritic pain to the patient on presentation.

The cause of this iatrogenic retained piece of cannula may well be from the patients prior diagnostic investigations.

Algorithm managed indications for surgical removal of such foreign bodies in symptomatic patients lead to better patient's outcomes and decreases the chances of infection, embolization, or erosions within the heart. Keeping this in view, we managed our patient with success.