A Case Report of Secondary Infertility Due to Retained Surgical Gauze

One of the rare side effects of abdominal and pelvic surgery is retained surgical instruments or dressings in the site of surgery. Secondary infertility due to retained foreign body in the pelvis is also one of the rare cases.
Case Report: The case was a 40 year old para 1 woman with vaginal delivery without history of infertility, who had undergone myomectomy due to uterine fibroids. After the surgery, she presented with secondary infertility to the imaging center for hysterosalpingography in order to examine the uterus and uterine tubes. In the hysterosalpingography examination, the uterus cavity had normal shape and size, and right fallopian tube was blocked at the distal end and the left fallopian tube was blocked at the proximal end. In addition to the above findings, a suspicious image of a foreign body, was observed in the pelvis. In pelvic CT scan, the presence of a surgical gauze in the pelvic cavity and fallopian tube obstruction, were was confirmed.
Since there is always the possibility of remaining foreign body in the surgical site, the control of surgical instruments by surgery team is necessary. The radiologist should also consider this possibility in diagnosis process.