Clumsy doctors left scissors inside a patient’s abdomen for years after cancer surgery.
Kamla Bai, a 44-year-old Indian, underwent abdominal surgery to treat ovarian cancer in February 2022.
Everything went as planned and the tumor was removed. But for two and a half years after the operation, he suffered extreme abdominal pain and insisted that doctors run tests to find the cause.
After tests found nothing conclusive and a long list of medications failed to relieve his pain, doctors finally performed a CT scan on November 29, 2024.
The examination revealed a pair of surgical scissors lodged next to his colon.
Surgeons believe they were left inside during surgery and went unnoticed when doctors stitched her up.
Ms. Bai underwent a second operation and the scissors were quickly removed.
The mother-of-two is one of an estimated 1,000 people worldwide who undergo abdominal and thoracic surgery and subsequently leave behind sharp and dirty surgical tools such as scissors.
Ms Bai and her family are now demanding accountability from the medical team and are considering legal action.
Kamla Bai (pictured), 44, underwent surgery in 2022 for her ovarian cancer. Last month, doctors discovered that scissors had been left in his abdomen.
The CT scan above shows the scissors in Ms. Bai’s left paracolic canal, a narrow space in the abdomen that runs along the descending colon. He suffered no complications once they were removed.
According to a hospital report, the scissors were lodged in the woman’s left paracolic canal, a narrow space in the abdomen that runs along the descending colon, which stores food waste before passing into the rectum.
Although Ms. Bai only suffered pain, sharp objects, such as scissors, left in the body can cause serious complications such as internal bleeding, necrosis, infections, sepsis and death.
Scissors are typically used during surgery to cut and dissect tissue and remove sutures and bandages.
Nurses and technicians count all tools before and after an operation, as well as during critical points.
But Ms. Bai is far from the only patient to leave the hospital with a tool inside.
Last year, Brazilian politician Mato Groso had a pair of scissors left in his abdomen after having a tumor removed from his intestine.
And in 2011, Carolyn Boerste of Kentucky had a sponge sewn into her leg during surgery. They eventually had to amputate his leg due to complications.
While hospitals are required to check for foreign objects before stitching up patients, thousands of patients leave the operating room with something inside.
In the United States alone, around 6,000 Americans keep scissors, sponges, tweezers and gauze, among other items, after surgery.
A study in New England Journal of Medicine suggested that this is more likely to happen during emergency surgeries such as appendectomies or trauma, as doctors are in a greater hurry than routine surgeries.
The images above show additional views of Ms Bai’s abdomen before the scissors were removed.
Recent research is working to reduce the number of incidents like this.
One study 2021For example, it developed artificial intelligence software that was almost 100 percent effective at finding surgical sponges in x-rays of mannequins before doctors shut them down.
He also had a 90 percent success rate in interpreting cadaver scans with sponges before stitching up the body.
It is unclear whether this tool would be used specifically during or after surgery.
Ms. Bai’s family said her severe abdominal pain did not subside until the scissors were removed.
However, she suffered no complications from the strange incident, apart from internal scarring where the scissors stuck, which could cause the surfaces to stick together, which could lead to blockages.
Officials at Kamla Raja Hospital in Gwalior, India, said a detailed report will be prepared and submitted to authorities for further action.
Ms Bai is also now cancer-free, although she undergoes routine check-ups.