Gossypiboma: a hidden passenger.

We present a case of an 85-year-old man admitted with an ischaemic stroke with an incidental finding of an abdominal mass on clinical examination. CT of the abdomen revealed asymptomatic carriage of a retained surgical swab in his left lower abdomen, most likely due to an open surgical abdominal aortic aneurysm repair 8 years previously. The barium marker embedded in cloth gives a hyperdense (metallic) coiled appearance,1 seen here with CT imaging (figures 1 and 2 …