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Updated: Apr 23, 2026
Intraoperative Ultrasound in Spinal Surgery
Published on: August 17, 2022
Gossypiboma 19 years after laminectomy mimicking a malignant spinal tumour: a case report
Takashi Kobayashi1, Naohisa Miyakoshi, Eiji Abe
1Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Akita Kosei Medical Center, 1-1-1 Iijima-Nishifukuro, Akita 011-0948, Japan. takakoba825@hotmail.com.
Introduction:
Gossypiboma is rare and mostly asymptomatic in chronic cases. It can be confused with other soft tissue masses.
Case Presentation:
Our patient was an 87-year-old Japanese man with a history of surgery for a lumbar lesion causing lumbar canal stenosis 19 years earlier. Computed tomography showed a soft tissue mass with osteolysis and periosteal thickening of the vertebral lamina. On magnetic resonance imaging, the mass showed heterogeneous signal intensity on T2-weighted imaging, suggesting a malignancy. At the time of biopsy, small pieces of retained surgical sponge were collected. Surgical treatment was performed to excise the soft tissue tumour.
Conclusions:
Gossypiboma should be included in the differential diagnosis of soft tissue masses in the paraspinal region in patients with a history of previous spinal surgery.
