INTRACARDIAC SUCTION TIP INADVERTENTLY LEFT BEHIND FOLLOWING CARDIAC SURGERY

Abstract

The incidence of a foreign body left behind inside the heart following surgery is exceedingly rare, as one would suspect. This accident seems to occur more frequently in other body organs at the time of general and gynecologic surgery; however, the actual incidence is difficult to estimate. There have been few papers in the literature regarding the subject of foreign bodies left behind after cardiac surgical procedures. In this paper, a case of a suction tip left behind inside the heart following cardiac surgery is presented.