Intra-abdominal needle: Medical malpractice?

The Wandering Knife: A Case Report

Stab injuries to the abdomen have become a common occurrence, though retained objects are rare. A 22-year-old male presented with a left lower abdominal discomfort the next day after having a stab in the right hypochondrium. He was hemodynamically stable, with no signs of peritonitis. Abdominal X-ray revealed a 15 cm long knife blade in the left lower abdomen. He underwent a laparotomy for the removal of the knife blade located inside the peritoneal cavity in his left iliac region without any injury to the surrounding viscera.

Foreign Bodies in the Abdominal Area: Review of the Literature

The aim of this paper is to update and summarize the relevant literature on the anatomical localization, incidence, and diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to abdominal foreign bodies. A comprehensive review was carried out on recorded cases related to the presence of foreign bodies in the abdominal area throughout the literature. Moreover, the phenomenon was discussed in relation to different patient categories associated with childhood, mental or neurological illness, incarceration, and drug trafficking as well as sexual accident or abuse. Particular importance is ascribed to the underlying psychopathology and motivation of foreign body ingestion in each category of patients. The surgical, psychiatric and legal implications of the issue are discussed in detail.

The importance of medico-legal evaluation in a case with intraabdominal gossypiboma

Data concerning the incidence of gossypiboma tend to fluctuate and is difficult to estimate because of a low reporting rate lest medico-legal implication. Gossypiboma is frequently located in the abdominal and pelvic cavities after gynecologic and upper abdominal surgical operations but can also follow thoracic, orthopedic, and urological and neurosurgical procedures. In medical literature, there are few articles about the medico-legal evaluation of gossypiboma although it is typically subjected to a medico-legal process. In this article, we reported a 22-year-old female case with intraabdominal gossypiboma following a cesarean procedure and discussed the importance of medico-legal evaluation of gossypiboma.