Apollo Hospitals, Chennai, India. reddypk@eth.net
Numerous foreign bodies, such as surgical gauze, pads and instruments, and other items, have been left behind in the abdominal cavity during open surgeries. These have been traditionally removed at redo open surgeries. Here we describe a case of an artery forceps left behind at a previous surgery (open cholecystectomy and appendicectomy) performed 5 years earlier that was removed by laparoscopy.