Incidental peritoneal loose body in a polytrauma patient: The unnoticed scenario: A case report

Peritoneal loose bodies are rare, often asymptomatic lesions that can be found during radiologic examinations or abdominal surgery. They don't require specific treatment unless they are complicated.

We present a rare case of incidentally diagnosed peritoneal loose body in a 38 years old man who undergone exploratory laparotomy for the diagnosis of hypovolemic shock secondary to acute intra-abdominal bleeding with solid organ injury secondary to blunt abdominal trauma and left proximal tibia fracture.

Symptomatic peritoneal loose bodies present with compressive symptoms of urinary system or bowel obstruction. As a result, they create diagnostic dilemmas in patients with previous history of abdominal surgery who present with acute abdominal pain, commonly confusing with retained foreign body.

Although most incidental loose bodies are diagnosed intraoperatively on laparatomies done for other indications, it's very unusual to suspect such findings in hemodynamically unstable polytrauma patient undergoing surgical exploration. Considering the diagnostic challenges they create in post-operative patients presenting with abdominal complaints, its better practice to consider such rare findings when exploring the abdomen in trauma settings.